Smallest World
by Natsu.Arisu
Summary: The world is so much smaller than it seems, and there's more to others than they seem. Unfortunately, Ryo learns how true these sayings are – probably in one of the most difficult ways. AU.
1. Prologue

Dearest Amane,

It's funny, when you think about it. I never expected something like it to even happen in my life. Maybe if it was our grandmother, or maybe our grandfather, it would've been somewhat expected and not come as much as a shock to me. But…Mother, and you, too? I couldn't believe it.

Amane…oh, dear, dear Amane. Why did you do it? You had a whole life ahead of you. Why did you take your own life? Why did you have to do it?

And Mom…She died in that automobile accident, and it was ironically on your death anniversary, too…The bitter, unkind, irony—it's horrible.

Father and I were standing in front of your graves yesterday, since it was the first anniversary of Mother's death, and the second anniversary of yours. I wasn't crying. All the tears were already shed on the day of both your actual deaths, and they seem to have dried out by now.

Truth be told, I've decided to not cry about it anymore. Crying…it won't bring you two back—I know it won't. But that doesn't mean I'll forget about it all. The pain…it's like a scar. It will fade away over time, but it will always be there. It won't disappear completely.

I'll be starting fresh next year. I'm a bit anxious about it—both in an excited way and in a nervous way. I'm turning eighteen, moving out, going to college…Can you believe it, Amane? Your big brother is going to college already. I only wish we were going together, like we planned…

It's funny how plans like that change. Going onto college, alone…it feels a bit weird. Empty, I suppose. I think it's because I know we were supposed to go together…

But…I don't blame you at all. It was your choice to take your own life…I respect that. Does that sound strange? Respecting the fact that you decided to commit suicide? I don't blame you, or anyone. I blame myself a little, because I never even saw it coming…You never even hinted at it. You seemed to act funny sometimes, but…I just figured you were just being Amane. Amane, my sister. My younger, twin sister…

I'm babbling again. But you know your brother, how he tends to babble. I'm sure you haven't forgotten.

I don't know if you're able to read this, or not. But I just want you to know that I love you, and tell Mom I love her too, if you're with her right now. Wish me luck in college.

Love,

_Ryo_

P.S. I just found out that I won't be moving out alone after all. Remember 'Kura? It turns out that his apartment is only a mile or two away from the school…Dad had me talk to him on the phone, just now. He didn't seem too happy about me moving in, but when I told him I'd pay him rent (sort of as a thank-you), he seemed a bit happier. I guess some people never change…But considering it's Bakura, I suppose it's no surprise.


	2. Chapter 1

**(A/N:) Welcome to the first chapter of my attempt at a lengthy fic. Heheh. Hopefully I've caught your interest with the prologue and/or summary. I admit that this may start off a little slow, but I promise it'll get a lot more interesting in later chapters. ;) For now, enjoy this chapter until I get the next one done.**

**Oh, just a side note about the genres: The genre for this could probably go a lot of different ways, but judging from where I'm taking this, it's mostly drama. So I put Drama and General.**

**Warnings this chapter: Mild sexual themes, really mild alcohol use. It's actually nothing too bad - I'm just mentioning them in case.**

* * *

I pull up to the apartment complex, and take a glance at the piece of paper in my hand. "Fifth floor, apartment number 512…," I mumble to myself. I park nearby the building, and turn off the engine. I sigh, and stare at the car I had parallel parked behind. Well, this was it. I was here.

That morning, around six, I had packed up the last of my things, and stuffed them in the back of the car. I didn't have a lot to bring with me, so packing was fairly easy. I said my final goodbyes to my father, and I drove for about six hours to arrive at Bakura's apartment complex.

I pick up the box that was resting in the passenger seat, which is not too heavy, thankfully. I make my way towards the building and, to my disbelief, see no elevator in sight. "Great," I sigh.

After what seems like an eternity, I reach the top of the fourth flight of stairs, and walk down the hallway while scanning the doors for room five-hundred twelve.

"Ah, here," I say to myself, when I finally reach my destination. There's a little nameplate next to the door that says 'Kuroi,' indicating that I've reached the correct room. I knock on the door, and fidget a bit as I wait for it to be answered. I almost jump when the door suddenly opens with no warning, and I am met with crimson-tinged eyes glaring down at me.

Bakura's hair is unruly, more than usual (or at least more than the last time I saw him). He's wearing nothing but some loose jeans and a black muscle shirt, and he has a soda can in one hand. I remember him being a drinker, but I guess he's not so much of one that he'd drink at such an early hour. His hand rests on the doorknob as he stares at me.

"H-hey Bakura," I stutter. His glare is making me uneasy. I stare up at him for a while, and he says nothing. This is unbelievably awkward.

A few seconds pass, and Bakura finally snickers. I flinch, but a small smile creeps on my face. Some people never change.

"Get in here," he says, a bit of playful harshness masking his voice. I obey, and step into the apartment. Bakura goes into his kitchen to throw away his can, and sticks his head into the refrigerator to find something to eat or drink, supposedly.

"Er…Where can I put this?" I ask, holding up the box I'm holding to indicate what I'm talking about. "I had to go up four flights of stairs, and my arms are about to fall off."

Bakura's head comes out of the fridge, and he stares at me as if I'm crazy.

"You know there's an elevator, right?"

I stare back at him. "…No there isn't."

"Yes, there is." He shuts the fridge, and now there's a beer can in his hand. So, noon is apparently not too early…?

"I didn't see one," I raise an eyebrow.

"Which side of the building were you on?"

"I don't know," I shrug.

"Was there a tree in front of the side you were on?"

"…No."

He shrugs and opens the can, taking a sip from it. He walks past me and flops onto the couch, puts his feet up on the coffee table, and starts flipping channels.

I stand there awkwardly, waiting for him to say something relating to me staying here, but he continues to stare at the TV, as if I'm not there.

"…Bakura?"

No response.

"…Bakura."

"…"

"…'KURA!"

"Hah?" he looks up from the television. "What?" he narrows his eyes slightly, annoyed that I'm keeping him from watching whatever was showing on the television.

I blush a bit, becoming uneasy again. "Do you mind showing me to my room…?"

He stares at me for a while. "…Oh. Yeah, sure." He gets up, and leads me to a bedroom down a short hallway. He opens the door, and says impassively, "Voila."

The room is plain and average size, with a bed and a desk off to the side. There's one window with white blinds, and a simple wardrobe that's partly open. There's also a ceiling fan, which Bakura flips on. The lights come on with it. I spot a few cobwebs here and there, indicating that the room has not been used for quite some time. I also note the fact that Bakura did not take the time to prepare the room for me, but it's not like I expected him to do so, anyway.

He steps into the room before me, and I follow him, placing the box on the bed. He pulls up the blinds, and starts his lecture.

"You offered paying rent on the phone, so it's a hundred dollars a month. Originally I was going to make it two-hundred, but since you're my cousin, I decided to be nice." He turns around from the window to face me. His arms are now crossed, making him look almost authoritative. "I only have a few rules. No renovations, and if you're going to have someone over, you need to tell me first. No taking my beer—"

"I don't drink," I bluntly say.

Bakura pauses, and then goes on as if I never interrupted. "No wasting food, and if you eat the last of whatever, you're responsible to buy more of whatever it is. No hogging the bathroom, which is next to my room. Lastly, my room's across yours, so if I'm sleeping, don't bother me. Unless if it's some sort of near-death situation or something." He pauses, and looks like he's trying to remember something he forgot. "Oh," he finally says. "And if there's a sock on the doorknob of my room, don't come in."

"Why?" I blurt out, without thinking.

He stares at me for a few moments, then chuckles. He starts to walk out and he ruffles my hair as he leaves. "You're so naïve." The door shuts, and I'm left standing alone in my room, confused and unaware. After about five minutes, I finally understand what he's talking about.

I shudder in disgust.

* * *

"Thanks for helping me get the rest of my boxes up here," I say to Bakura sarcastically, as I'm carrying the last of my boxes into the apartment. He's still lounging on the couch; still staring at the TV with his empty beer can in his hand.

"You're welcome," he says back with equal sarcasm, eyes still glued to the screen. I take a glance at the screen to see what he's watching, and it's some random movie I can't identify. I roll my eyes a bit and head to my room to put away the box. I come back into the living room.

I sit myself on the couch next to Bakura, at a respectable distance. "So…are you hungry?"

Bakura's eyes don't leave the screen. "No. Why, are you?"

"I haven't had lunch yet," I respond.

Bakura continues to stare at the television, and I can't tell if he's thinking or just staring.

"…Let's go out." He stands up and heads to the kitchen to throw away his beer can. Then he head to his room.

"Uh…where?" I raise an eyebrow.

"Around town, I don't know." He comes out of his room, now wearing a plain black t-shirt. I look at him a bit worriedly, and then he says, "Plenty of places to eat, no worries kiddo."

I pout at the nickname. "I'm not five, and you're only two years older than me. And that's not the only reason why I'm worried," I pause. "Are you sure it's okay for you to be driving?"

He chuckles in response. "I drank one can, chill out." He grabs the keys off the counter, and starts to head out the door. "Just turn off the TV and don't forget your wallet."

* * *

We're pulling out of Bakura's designated parking space, and I'm seated next to him in the passenger seat of his truck.

"Oh, that reminds me," I say out of nowhere. "Does it matter where I park?"

"Not really," Bakura says, focused on his driving. "As long as it's not in someone else's designated spot. They give you hell if you do." He stops at a stop sign. "Where did you park?"

"Over there, behind the Toyota," I point out.

Bakura makes another one of those stares at the car I point out.

"…You drive a Jeep?"

"Yes."

"…Kssht," he snickers.

"What?" I say, a little offended.

"Nothing, nothing," he says, recovering from his fit. "I just never expected you to drive a _Jeep_."

"It's used, and I got a good deal on it. Or at least Dad did," I shrug. "Seventeenth birthday present."

"Hmm," he muses. "Well, it's in pretty good shape, I guess," he says nodding at the car, and drives into the street. "You could've gotten a car that fits your style more, maybe—"

"Oh, be quiet."

* * *

We've stopped at the local McDonald's, and it's around two-thirty now. Bakura decided to give me a bit of a tour around the city beforehand, and when he finally got fed up with my complaints of hunger consisting of "I'm starving" and "my stomach won't stop growling", he pulled up to the nearest fast food place without even asking what I wanted. Sometimes I wonder how I'm related to him, other times I don't really care and just brush it off.

I'm nibbling on some French fries, after have finishing my salad. Bakura's munching on a hamburger.

"Is that all you're eating?" he says after swallowing. "I thought you said you were starving."

I shrug. "I'm not a big eater, I guess."

Bakura, taking another bite, rolls his eyes and says with his mouth full, "It's no wonder you're so skinny."

I pout a little. "I've been told that several times, thank you."

He nods and swallows. "So, when do you start school?"

"Two weeks. What about you?" I know Bakura attends the community college in town, and isn't planning to get anything more than his Associate's degree. Sometimes I wonder how he's going to make a living.

"Two weeks. What should we do?" he asks, while finishing the last bit of his burger and taking a sip of his soda.

"What do you mean?"

"We have two weeks 'til school starts, so what should we do?" He stares, waiting for an answer.

"I…I don't know," I shrug. "I'm…I'm not good at making plans."

"Jeez, how did you spend your whole high school life—in your room?" he leans back in his chair, and I flinch a bit at the comment. He realizes what effect it made on me, and he moves his gaze and awkwardly stares at his soda. "Oh. Right. Sorry."

"It's okay," I mumble.

There's an awkward silence between us, with the only sounds of kids screaming in the indoor playground in the other room, and the chatter of other customers. Bakura bites at his straw, since there is apparently no liquid left in the cup. I continue to nibble silently at my remaining French fries.

I finally break the silence. "Sometimes I wish I did a little more in high school," I say. "I spent all my time studying, just so I can get accepted into college here. I got good grades, did my volunteer work…But I never really talked to the other kids volunteering at the same locations. I just…didn't want to be rejected—by the people around me and the college itself. It…wasn't an answer. I felt horrible cancelling plans with my friends and everything all those times when I had to study, but…I guess I can't change it."

Bakura nods. "I partied too much," he says blatantly. I look up at him to listen. "I wasn't good enough to get into the university. I'm just lucky I even graduated." He finally looks at me, and one corner of his mouth turns upwards. "I have to say, kiddo, I'm glad you didn't do what I did." He reaches over to ruffle my hair, and I protest the action, but laugh all the same.

"You could have done the whole transfer program thing, you know," I suggest.

"Eh," Bakura says, "Truth is, I was lazy my first two years of community college. I tried getting my crap together, but it just wasn't working for me." He takes the lid off his cup to stare at the ice in the cup. "I assumed that it'd be a waste of time and money, both for me and the instructors, if I even tried transferring." He shrugs. "I don't have any regrets. I'm perfectly fine. I'm in my third year, now…" He looks up at me. "…Perfectly fine."

I nod at him, showing my understanding.

There's more silence between us, and Bakura suddenly gets up and takes his tray with him. I follow.

"Let's get back to the apartment," he suggests.

I nod, then remember a question I had earlier but never asked. "Bakura?"

"Hmm?" he opens the door, and I follow him to his truck.

"Do you…have a girlfriend?" I blush a bit, embarrassed to be asking the question. Though I blame Bakura for mentioning the sock-on-his-door-handle-rule earlier…

Bakura raises an eyebrow, as if he were mentally questioning my question. After a while, he smirks at me and chuckles, seeming to recall the rule and understand why I was asking the question. After a pause, he says, "No, I don't have a girlfriend, Ryo." He steps into the driver's seat of the truck, and I step into the passenger's.

"But then why…?" I trail off. I blink, realization washing over me. I blush immensely, then shudder with disgust.

"'Why', what?" Bakura sneers.

"Nothing, nothing!" I turn away from him.

He's satisfied with my embarrassment. He decides to extend the teasing. "I enjoy my alone time, and I also have—"

"Don't speak of it!" The heat in my cheeks intensifies. I simply keep my eyes on the view out my window the rest of the way back.

* * *

**(A/N:) Hopefully you haven't fallen asleep by now. Just a note: yes, Bakura's full name in this fic is 'Bakura Kuroi'. Ryo is still Ryo Bakura. And yes Ryo drives a Jeep. I don't know why I chose a Jeep, to be honest. I guess it seemed logical at the time. Whatever time that was. Maybe it was after midnight. Probably. Most likely. Very likely.**

**ANYWAY, I feel lame asking for reviews now, but I really do appreciate every single review!**


	3. Chapter 2

**(A/N:) I had writer's block with this. o_o; But I managed to get it done.**

**Warnings: Sexual themes. Mild? I dunno.**

* * *

It's been a little over a week since I've moved in with Bakura. It hasn't been too bad, and I've become accustomed to his…living habits. He never cleans up his messes, and he never makes his own dinner. It's almost like I'm his mother, or something. I always seem to end up cleaning up, and making the meals. I guess it's a habit, since I've always done it for myself at home while Father would be on excavations. I honestly don't mind…too much. Bakura doesn't seem to mind either, actually. In fact, when I had first made dinner, Bakura was surprised when he came home from his part-time job at the coffee shop.

* * *

_Bakura steps into the apartment, hanging his jacket up on the rack. "I'm home," he calls out._

_"Ah, just in time," I say._

_Bakura pauses at the doorway, and sniffs the air. "…What's that smell?"_

_"Dinner," I smile and set the platter on the table. Bakura looks at me curiously._

_"You…made dinner?"_

_"Yep," I say, not noticing his puzzled expression._

_"What…What did you make?" Bakura walks over to the dining table and seats himself._

_I sit across from him. "Just lasagna and some salad. Have some," I say graciously, as if _he_ were the guest in this apartment._

_Bakura raises his eyebrow as I serve him a slice of lasagna on his plate. He tentatively pokes at it with his fork, and I laugh quietly to myself. He makes a small glare at me before taking a bite. His eyes light up._

_"This…This is actually really good," he says._

_I smile. "Thank you." I help myself to some salad. It seems Bakura hasn't had a homemade meal in a long time._

* * *

With two people living in the apartment, we have run out of food quite quickly. According to Bakura's rules, since I was the last to eat (or rather, in this case, use) the food we had run out of, it was my job to go out and buy more.

I shut the door of my car with my foot, carrying several grocery bags in my hands and arms. I head to the elevator, and go up to the fourth floor.

Struggling with my key and the lock after a minute or two, I finally get the door to Bakura's apartment open. I sigh in relief and step inside. I peek my head from behind the groceries in my arms to greet Bakura, who I know is sitting on the couch. "Hey, Bakura, I'm ho—" I immediately stop, and drop the groceries out of pure shock. My eyes are as wide as dinner plates.

Bakura is in a full-blown make-out session with some _guy_ I don't even know.

Bakura realizes I'm in the room, and pulls away from the stranger. He wipes a bit of saliva off the side of his lip. The stranger next to him does the same, and looks at me. Bakura calmly greets me, "Oh, hey Ryo."

My mouth is open, but no words leave my mouth. 'Oh, hey Ryo'? I walk in on him making out with a _guy _and that's all he has to say?

"Err…," is the first thing that comes out of my mouth. "B-Bakura…who's…who's this?" I smile weakly. I feel like a parent who just walked in on their daughter with her new boyfriend.

Bakura smirks, noticing how awkward I'm feeling in this situation. "Ah, you two haven't met," he says. He gestures from me to the man next to him, "Ryo, this is Akefia Touzokuo. Akefia, this is my cousin and roommate, Ryo Bakura."

The man called Akefia makes a small wave at me.

I nod at him, acknowledging him. "N-nice to meet you."

Akefia has white hair, like Bakura and me, but his hair is much shorter. He has grayish, lavender eyes; and he appears to have a well-built, tanned figure under the white button-up shirt he's wearing. He seems…foreign. He also seems a bit intimidating because of his size, and I don't know whether I should be afraid or what…

"Er…Bakura, may I speak with you for a moment?" My eyes move from Akefia to Bakura.

"Wh—Hey!" I grab him abruptly by the arm and drag him towards my room.

"Excuse us for a moment," I say to Akefia, before disappearing in the hallway to my room. I shut the door and turn to Bakura, who's cursing under his breath.

"God damn, Ryo, was that really necessary?" He rubs the arm I had grabbed.

"Who is that?" I whisper-yell at him, not wanting Akefia to hear us in the other room.

"Huh?" Bakura looks at me. "I told you, he's Akefia!" he says at a normal volume.

"Well, yes, I know, but…what is he?" I say frantically. "Is he your…you know, your…"

"Boyfriend?" Bakura smirks.

I blush a bit. "Y-yes," I cough into my hand. "Bakura, you…you never told me you have a boyfriend! Let alone tell me that you're…you're…"

"Gay," he finishes my sentence expressionlessly, and the heat in my cheeks continues to grow. "And I tried to tell you about him last week," he shrugs.

"When?" I look at him in disbelief.

"When you asked me if I had a girlfriend," Bakura says. "I was about to say I had a boyfriend but you said for me to not speak of it." He pauses, then smirks again at me. "Why, are you jealous?"

"What? No!" I blush more furiously. "That's disgusting! You're my cousin!"

Bakura chuckles darkly. "So?"

I stare at him, pure disbelief in my eyes. "…You're so gross."

Bakura chuckles again. "So, what about you, eh? Are you like me?"

I raise an eyebrow. "What…What do you mean?"

"Do you like guys too?" he smirks at my growing embarrassment. "Or are you completely straight? Swing both ways? Or are you like me in high school, exploring your—"

"You're so gross!" I open the door and head back to living room, with Bakura following behind me. The heat in my face somehow manages to die down the time I get there. "Sorry about that," I say to Akefia.

He waves it off, "It's alright."

"So, Akefia," his name clumsily falls out of my mouth, "will—will you be staying for dinner?"

"Hmm, I suppose so," he says. "Is it a bother?" He cocks his head to the side slightly.

The tension I was just feeling washes away out of nowhere. "Oh, no, not at all," I protest. "Is—is there anything you would like?"

"Oh, I'm fine with anything," he says amiably. "I'm sure whatever you make will be fine." He flashes a smile, and it suddenly disappears when Bakura whacks him in the back of the head. "Ow," Akefia mutters, rubbing the spot Bakura had hit.

"Stop flirting with my cousin," Bakura says bluntly. He takes his seat on the couch next to the tanned man.

"I wasn't trying to flirt with him," he turns to the crimson-tinged eyes glaring at him. "I'm just trying to be polite."

"Psshht," Bakura scoffs. "Since when are you polite…?" His gaze turns from his boyfriend to the television screen, which comes to life as he presses the power button on the remote.

Akefia rolls his eyes, and I give a small laugh.

"Well, I'll go start dinner…," I say. I walk away from the two to grab the groceries and bring them in the kitchen.

I'm actually a bit…surprised. I never expected Akefia to be so…kind? I can't seem to find the right word. His body language and his stature itself seem to say otherwise. I can't help as so many different questions float within my mind…I guess I'll find out at dinner, if they aren't too bothered.

* * *

"So, uh…," I say at the dinner table, poking at the rice on my plate. "How…how long have you two been, uh," I clear my throat, "s-seeing each other?"

Bakura chuckles low in his throat as he takes a bite of the chicken. I shoot a small glare at him.

"Hmm, a little over a year now, I think," Akefia muses. Bakura looks up from his food.

"…A year? Really?" Bakura's eyes blink at him. I can't believe him sometimes…

"Yes…," Akefia looks at him cautiously. "That's why I took you out for dinner three months ago…"

Bakura stares at him, as if trying to think back. "…Oh, yeah," he says. He goes back to eating his food.

I shake my head a little, smiling. Right now, I'm wondering how Bakura even managed to get himself a boyfriend in the first place…

"How did you meet?" I say, knowing that the question would probably irk Bakura and make him think I'm being nosy. I can't help but be curious, though.

"I'm pretty sure it was at some club," Akefia answers. Somehow I'm not surprised with this response.

"Too bad it closed down last month," Bakura grins a bit devilishly. I'm afraid that he might have something to do with it, but I never know with him.

"So, Ryo…" I look up, seeing that Akefia was now looking at me. "Bakura tells me you're starting school next week, as a freshman at the university; is that right?" I just then notice that his voice has the slightest accent in it.

I nod. "Yes, that's right."

"Hmm, interesting," Akefia nods. "I happen to go to the same school."

"R-really?" My eyes widen. Akefia didn't look like a college student.

He nods again. "I'm graduating next year."

Ah, he's a senior. That makes sense now. "That's great," I say.

"I suppose," he shrugs.

There's a bit of silence, the only sound being the clinking of the dinnerware and the quiet chewing of Bakura, who's stuffing his face as usual.

* * *

I'm now washing the dishes, and Akefia and Bakura are in the living room. I last left them watching television and sharing a six-pack. I pray to every god that nothing goes wrong if they get too drunk and/or they decide to actually finish the entire pack.  
The rest of dinner earlier had been fairly quiet; it was unbelievably uncomfortable for whatever reason. Akefia would mumble a few words to Bakura every now and then, but I could never catch what he was saying. Bakura would mumble back to him, and I would catch what he was saying occasionally.

I hear Akefia talking to Bakura in the other room. He isn't speaking in English. Well, that answers a few questions I had.

"I don't want to," Bakura grumbles. So...Bakura understands another language other than English? That's new.

"Why not?" Akefia questions in English.

"I'm too tired, and this is my second can," Bakura replies. I hear a small noise, indicating he had put the beer can down. "I don't intend to go out and become more intoxicated, thank you." Well, here's a self-controlled Bakura I've never seen.

"Mm, fine then," Akefia seems to give up.

They're quiet, and the only sound is the TV and me washing the dishes. I wince as the plate makes a loud noise when I put it on the rack with the other dishes. I'm just about to clean the utensils, when I hear a soft moan in the other room. I freeze completely.

The moans get a little louder with each passing moment, and my eyes are wide and locked on the water running through the tap.

"Mmm...Nngh, ah, Akefia..." I blush furiously. My god, didn't Bakura have _any_ decency to at least _try_ staying quiet?

I'm a bit apalled and embarassed at the same time. I continue washing the dishes, trying to block out the sounds in the other room by thinking of what I needed to get done tomorrow.

_Loudly_ I shut the tap off, and _loudly_ I step into the room. "WELL," I say, _loudly_, and Akefia and Bakura pull away from their lip-lock to look at me. "I'm gonna go get ready for bed—I'm beat." I nod at Akefia. "It was nice meeting you."

"Nice meeting you too," he nods back. "Maybe we'll see each other at school, if not here again." He gives me a polite smile.

I nod at him. "Maybe," I politely smile back. "Well, good night."

"'Night," they both say, though Bakura grumbles.

I brush my teeth and put on my boxers and old t-shirt, and then head straight to bed. I wasn't lying when I said I was beat. Today had been a little too awkward and eventful for me. I feel myself drift off to sleep.

I'm jarred out of my sleep when I hear a scream. I look at the clock, and it's one in the morning. Across the hallway, all I can hear is:

"Oh, God, Akefia...! God, yes, please, Akefia...! Ahhh..."

I groan and cover my head with my pillow.

Bakura Kuroi, you have absolutely no decency and you disgust me to no end at this moment...

* * *

**(A/N:) Did I mislead any of you, making you think it was going to be tendershipping? ;) Heheh. Geminishipping for now, there shall be more shippings later. Or something of that nature. I dunno. The "main" shipping will come in...hopefully one or two chapters from now. I don't want to give anything away. ;)**

**So yesh! Geminishipping. I've never gotten to write any of it because it's not exactly the easiest thing in the world for me to write. Especially since I've never seen the last season of Yugioh, let alone the whole series. *sweatdrop* I still have an idea of who TKB is though, and Geminishipping happens to be one of my top OTPs right now. COOL BEANS.**

**Ehh...I have nothing else to say. Review? Maybe? 8'D**


	4. Chapter 3

**(A/N:) *sweatdrop* Ehhh...I'm sorry this took so long...I've been busy with outside life and laziness. And writer's block. And stuff. Plus I wanted to write chapter 4 before posting this...**

**So yeah.**

**Warnings: Language, a bit of OOC-ness, sexual themes mentioned**

* * *

"Crap!"

I look up from my bowl of cereal to see Bakura running out from his room, half naked in his boxers.

"Good morning," I say nonchalantly, looking back at the television screen. Lately I've been eating breakfast on the couch.

"Don't 'good morning' me—why didn't you wake me up?" Bakura went to the kitchen and quickly poured himself coffee that I had made. He hisses when a bit of the hot liquid spills onto his hand. "Fuck!"

"Careful, it's hot," I say, my eyes never leaving the television screen.

"Oh, really? Thanks _so much_ for telling me!" he says with blatant sarcasm.

"You're welcome," I respond, still not looking at him.

I can feel Bakura glaring daggers at me. "Since when are you such a bitch...?" he mumbles, but it's still audible to my ears.

A small smile graces my lips. I've discovered a short while before today how unbelievably amusing it is to mess with Bakura.

I purely blame Akefia.

Bakura chugs the coffee down, so fast that it can't even burn his tongue. He rushes to his room to grab his clothes, and heads to the bathroom. His head pokes out of the hallway to glare at me. I look at him, then smile broadly as if nothing were wrong. He narrows his eyes and flips me off. The bathroom door shuts.

I simply laugh to myself while picking up my cell phone to text Akefia about this morning's antics.

* * *

Bakura comes home later that day, kicking his boots off and sighing.

"Welcome home," I say. I'm setting the table as Bakura looks at me and gives one of the most deathly glares I've seen.

After a moment of silence, Bakura walks over to me and says through his teeth, "You are _so_ lucky the manager didn't notice I was late today."

I resist smiling. "Oh? You were late? That's a shame, Bakura, maybe you should learn to take responsibility and wake up earlier—"

"Oh, don't give me that bullsh—HOLY SHIT!" he screams. He's rather surprised by Akefia grabbing him abruptly from behind, out of nowhere. I start laughing, and Akefia does too.

Bakura blinks a few times before realizing what's going on, then narrows his eyes. "God damn you two."

Akefia grins and kisses the top of Bakura's head. "You know how much I love Mess with Bakura Day."

"That's everyday for you, and it appears you've taught my cousin it...Great...I'm so happy...," he mumbles sarcastically.

I chuckle. "Sorry 'Kura," I say, but I'm grinning. He glares at me for the umpteenth time.

"Eff you guys," he mumbles.

"That'd be awkward with Ryo in there, but I'd gladly comply," Akefia grins. Bakura hits his arms repeatedly until the tanned man lets him go.

"You're an idiot, and you suck."

Akefia simply grins and crashes his lips onto Bakura's. Bakura doesn't seem to react for a while, still angry with the other man. Eventually he does kiss back, and I simply roll my eyes. I've already gotten used to their...habits.

* * *

Akefia has joined us for dinner. I've made all of our favorites, because tomorrow we _all_ start school.

Bakura has a steak on his plate, and he's cutting it and eating it as if there were no tomorrow. I blink at him.

"Bakura...ah, shouldn't you...eat that slower?" I say. Despite my words, I'm amazed at how fast he's eating.

He looks up from his plate. "Humph?" His mouth is full. I need to remember to teach him table manners later

"Slow down, big boy," Akefia chuckles, while I sigh. Akefia takes a bite of the filet mignon.

I'm the only one at the table not eating some sort of red meat. I take a bite of the broiled salmon, chew and swallow, then speak. "You'll get a stomachache later if you keep eating like that."

"And I'm pretty sure that'll keep you from sleeping, which will keep you from getting up early for school," Akefia grins, and playfully pinches Bakura's cheek. Bakura slaps his hand away.

"Stop treating me like that," he growls. His grimace turns into a smirk when he says, "And I'm pretty sure a stomachache won't be the one keeping me up all night..." I don't see it, but I know Bakura put his hand on Akefia's thigh just now. Bakura leans in closely towards his boyfriend.

Akefia smirks, and after a few seconds, says, "Nice try." Bakura frowns. "You're not the only one who needs to go to get some sleep, and you can bet your ass that I'm not the one who's going to keep you distracted from sleeping." Akefia smiles at Bakura's face, which is pouting. I chuckle a little and go back to eating.

"But you know how I hate sleeping early, even if I have to get up early," Bakura scowls.

"Then occupy yourself until you get tired," Akefia shrugs.

"How?"

"I don't know, jack off or something." They both turn their heads at me when I start coughing. I take a large drink of my water.

I cough a few times before talking. "...Ahem...Sorry. I choked on a bit of salmon."

They both snicker.

* * *

I finish up washing the dishes, and head to the living room. For once, Bakura and Akefia aren't sucking each other's faces off. I glance at the clock, and it's almost ten.

"I'm gonna go get ready for bed. 'Night, you two," I say, and give a small wave as I head for my room.

"'Night," they both say.

I grab my sweatpants and t-shirt from my room, then shut the door to the bathroom.

* * *

Akefia decided out of nowhere that we shouldn't show any "display of affection" while Ryo's in the room anymore. He decided this just a few minutes ago, actually.

_"What's wrong with kissing in front of Ryo? It's not like he'll get jealous or anything," I mumble so Ryo won't hear from the kitchen._

_"I'm not saying he'll get jealous," Akefia says in his native Arabic tongue. "I just think it makes him feel a bit uncomfortable."_

_"He told me he's gotten used to it," I shrug._

_"Yes, but that doesn't mean he's completely comfortable."_

_I stare at him in disbelief. "...You're so weird." I turn to the TV and lay back on the couch. After a few seconds, I sigh and say, "Fine."_

_Instead of the usual thank-you kiss, he ruffles the hair on the top of my head. I simply roll my eyes._

I lean towards Akefia and start grinning. He turns to me after a few seconds.

"...What?" he says in English.

My grin grows wider as I give him a small kiss on the lips. "Now?"

Akefia stares at me, his expression not changing. I frown. "What's wrong?"

Akefia continues to stare at me, then sighs, "Nothing, I...I should get going."

"Wha—?" Before I can say anything else, he gets up and starts heading to the door. I get up and follow him, grabbing his arm and stopping him. "Akefia, what is it?

"Nothing, I...Bakura, we both need our sleep, I need to get going." He tries to get closer to the door, but I don't let go of his arm.

"No, there's something wrong. Tell me what it is right now, or I'm not letting you leave." I squeeze his arm, indicating that I was serious. Alright, so I admit Akefia is bigger and stronger and not to mention that he tops, but I know that he knows that I don't screw around in situations like this.

Akefia sighs and turns to me. I open my mouth to demand an explanation for why he's acting so weird, but I'm silenced by his lips coming down on mine. I make a tiny whine at the sudden action.

God damn, I hate being vulnerable, and Akefia knows that. But when he's the one making me that way...it's different.

I gasp for air, welcoming his tongue to explore my mouth. I finally force myself to pull away, and Akefia hesitantly complies. He rests his forehead on mine, breathing heavily.

I stare intently into the eyes in front of me, and finally say, "...Tell me what's wrong."

Akefia sighs and shakes his head slightly. "It's nothing, I...I'm just anxious."

"About?" I raise an eyebrow.

He straightens up, and says, "Graduating this coming year, that's all..."

I roll my eyes. "That's all? Just a few weeks ago you were telling me it wasn't a big deal."

"Yeah, but...I'm just having trouble with figuring out what I'm doing afterward," he shrugs. "You know my dad. He has high expectations for me."

"Well I've only met him once, so I don't know," I smirk playfully. I bring him back forward by his shirt and kiss him for a few seconds. After I pull away, I say, "You'll be fine."

He gives a small smile, and I smile reassuringly back. I admit, Akefia is the only person I have a soft spot for...Well, other than Ryo. Sort of. I have more of a semi-soft spot for him. But hey, we're related—no big deal.

I trace a line from Akefia's collarbone to the top of his pants. "So...are you sure you can't stay?" I make a small, wry grin.

Akefia's expression becomes disapproving. "Bakura, what did I tell you at dinner?"

"I assumed it was just for show," I shrug, playing with his belt buckle.

"Well, I was serious," he says, and puts a hand on my wrist. I frown, and don't say anything as my gaze shifts down to Akefia's shoes. There's a long silence.

I start my third year of college, while Akefia's starting his last. I admit the slight age difference scared me at first, which seems stupid when you look at it. It's only a year difference. But considering Akefia would be graduating before me, it made me a bit anxious. He said himself that he's not sure where he's going or what he's doing afterward...However, that doesn't eliminate the possibility of him leaving me.

I break the silence, "I really hate my school."

Akefia seems a bit surprised by the random statement. "Then transfer," he says candidly, staring at the top of my head.

"I tried. But they won't let me."

"How come?"

"My grades aren't good enough and it's a little late to."

"...Ah."

More silence. Akefia strokes my hair.

"...Everyone there is a douche bag. I can't stand it," I mumble.

"I've heard you complain about them before," Akefia nods, still stroking my hair.

"Every teacher and professor hates me, even before they've heard anything about me."

"Mm."

"...I hate it."

"I know."

Silence. I look up at Akefia. "Can you at least stay until—"

"Bakura."

"Akefia, please," I get desperate. "Just do this for me. Just stay with me until I fall asleep," I pull him closer. "We don't even have to have sex. Just stay with me," I clutch tightly at his shirt, as if it's a lifeline. "Please." _I don't want to think about that hellhole of a school while I'm trying to sleep..._

Akefia stares at me and looks like he's about to say something. He's interrupted by the bathroom door opening. In the corner of my eye, I see Ryo walking out and towards his room, paying no heed to us. His door shuts, indicating he was done for the night. Akefia finally says, "You know, I hate seeing you like this—all clingy and stuff."

"I know," I say a bit hastily. "So will you stay?" I stare at him, my eyes not pleading or desperate—just patient, waiting for his answer.

Akefia stares back. "...Alright, I'll stay." Out of pure reflex, I throw my arms around him. "But just until you fall asleep. I won't be there in the morning."

"I know," I say, muffled by his shirt. _Thank you..._

* * *

"Bakuraaaa, wake up," I coax the sleeping man. Bakura grunts and gets farther under the covers. I shake him a little more aggressively.

"Bakura, you're going to be late for class if you don't get up," I say. Bakura grumbles something unintelligible.

I sigh and say expressionlessly, "Bakura, Akefia snuck into my room last night and we had hot, steamy sex together."

"Was it good?" he mumbles under the covers.

I let out an exasperated sigh, "You're hilarious." _Well, so much for that idea._

Bakura slowly sits up and pushes his covers aside, scratching his head. He turns to me wearily, "Are you sure you're not gay? Because that one sentence just made me question a lot of things."

I roll my eyes and start leaving the room. "Breakfast is ready for you on the table," I say.

"Stop ignoring my question," Bakura yells out to me as I exit. I know he has a devious smirk on his face.

I'm washing my dishes as Bakura steps in and heads to the dining table. I had set out bacon, sausage, pancakes, and eggs for him. He looks distastefully at the eggs, then proceeds to chow down on the meat first.

"The university is a little farther than I thought, so I'll be leaving in a little bit so that I can get there before my first class and explore the campus first," I say to Bakura. He makes a noise indicating he heard me, and swallows the food that was in his mouth.

"Didn't you visit the campus before?" Bakura cocks an eyebrow.

"Well, sort of," I shrug. "Dad took me there when I was still a sophomore, so I don't remember a lot. I took that online tour thing a while ago too."

"Did you print out the campus map?" he says.

"Yeah, why?" I look over at him.

"If I were you, I'd get Akefia to give you a tour. Or at least have some way of letting everyone around you that you know him." He stuffs piece of a pancake in his mouth.

I make a puzzled expression. "What, letting everyone know I'm friends with a senior will help?" I joke.

"Yes. Socially," he says explicitly, then goes back to eating.

"I don't need help making friends," I mumble as I finish up cleaning the last of the dishes.

Bakura chuckles and I flick the back of his head before going to my room to get my things.

"See ya," I say, grabbing my keys off the counter and leaving.

"Bye," Bakura says with his mouth full. I shut the door behind me and head to the elevators.

* * *

**(A/N:) Ehhhhh, stupid chapter...sorry. Not very eventful.**

**So, Bakura was pretty much OOC with Akefia in the last couple moments with him, but there's a reason. Like Bakura says, he has a soft spot for Akefia (and a semi-soft one for Ryo, but that's beside the current point). Since Bakura's been with Akefia for more than a year, he's somewhat comfortable showing vulnerability to him - as much as he hates it. So...at least it's not OOC-ness without a cause. Don't kill me! *hides***

**Anyway, I hope you were at least a _little_ amused this chapter...? :) Onward to the next!**

**Reviews motivate me, really, they do!**


	5. Chapter 4

**(A/N:) ****I had loads of fun writing this chapter...XD I'll say no more!**

**Warnings: OOC-ness**

**Edit: Lawl. Shiitake mushrooms. Ignore the update. I just fixed the French since my iTouch decided to be a bish and spell "_appelez-vous_" wrong.**

* * *

I'm a little startled to see Akefia standing right there in front of the entrance to the campus. He looks like he's looking for someone...Realization washes over me when he makes eye contact with me and starts walking toward me.

"Hey Ryo," he grins. "Ready for you first day of college?" he says in an overly-excited yet sarcastic tone.

I make a small chuckle to let him know I knew he wasn't serious. "Yeah, I guess."

"Need help getting around?" Akefia says, looking at the map printout that was already in my hands.

"Ah, uhm, well, if you want to give me a tour, that's okay...," I trail off. "But if you're too busy or you d—"

"Not at all," Akefia says, throwing an arm around my shoulder. I squeak in surprise. His arm is heavy. "I'm never too busy for little freshy Ryo," he jokes.

I roll my eyes. "Okay, enough of that please."

* * *

It feels like more than an hour has passed by when Akefia is finally finished with his tour. I glance at my watch, and according to it, I had about half an hour until my first class.

"Any questions?" Akefia turns to me, after giving his big lecture on the importance of choosing a place to eat for lunch breaks. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not about it, so I faintly listened.

"Nope," I say, trying not to make it obvious that I had only heard less than half of what he had said.

"Good," he says, smiling. He reaches out and ruffles the hair on top of my head. "Do me a favor—tell 'Kura I won't be able to come over tonight. But if he needs to he can just call my cell phone or something."

"Okay," I nod, brushing his hand off my head. He gives me a small wave before walking away towards what he had told me were the social sciences buildings. I sigh and head to the science building on the opposite end.

* * *

I take an empty seat in the middle of the lecture hall. The seats to my right are empty, and so is the one to my left. Next to the left seat is the small flight of stairs.

I place my materials onto the table in front of me. I avoid eye contact with the other people in the room. This particular lecture hall isn't too big or too small, so blending in is somewhat an easy task.

In the corner of my eye, I see two girls coming in from the right side. One is a brunette and the other has blonde hair.

The brunette says to me, "Do you mind if we take these two seats here?"

I glance up at her, making minimal eye contact. "No, I don't mind. Go ahead."

She smiles and thanks me, and places her knapsack on the table. She turns to her friend, and they continue chattering.

I sit there, still avoiding eye contact with anyone else. A pen is twirling in my right hand as I stare at the swirls in the wood of the table, praying for whoever is giving the lecture to come in soon. This is incredibly awkward. I'm never going to have a social life here if I keep acting like this. I even promised myself before going to bed last night that I wouldn't have a repeat of high school by being anti-social and being completely engrossed in my books and studies. I promised myself I'd make friends—have a little fun, but get good grades too. I had promised myself _balance_.

I flinch and drop the pen in my hand when someone places their messenger bag to the left of me, and takes a seat. I dare myself to look at the person and make eye contact. I turn slowly, and I jump back a little when I see that the person is already looking at me, smiling.

"Err...hi," I say. I feel a small amount of heat rise in my cheeks out of the awkward atmosphere I probably just created for myself.

The stranger isn't fazed and doesn't notice my discomfort. "Hello," they say. I nod, not knowing how to respond. This is probably the first time I've said "hi" to a total stranger first.

The stranger leans to the left, and waves and grins at the girls beside me. "Hello ladies," he winks.

The brunette rolls her eyes while her friend makes a small giggle. "Hey Malik," the brunette says.

"And how was _your_ vacation, _darling_?" the one called Malik says to the brunette. They seem to know each other. Perhaps they went to the same school previously?

"Wonderful, thanks for asking. I managed to go to the beach a good number of times," she says.

"Lucky you," Malik humphs. "Family vacations are _such_ a bore."

I blink a few times, and the brunette and Malik continue to converse as if I'm not there. I take the time to observe the two.

Malik has white-blonde hair going a little past his shoulders, and has tanned skin. He's just as tan as Akefia, in fact. Maybe they're the same ethnicities? Malik also has lavender eyes—how peculiar. He's wearing a white v-neck that's fairly low, and a light purple scarf loosely around his neck. A blue jean jacket rests on top of his messenger bag, which I assumed he took off when I wasn't looking. He has dark-colored skinny jeans and a pair of brown canvas loafers on. Not only is his outfit making a few questions go through my head, but the way he _talks_...

"I'm just saying that it can be _such_ a hassle," Malik complains, and the brunette nods.

The brunette has short hair and bright, blue eyes. She appears to be a good listener, judging by the way she nods at Malik every now and keeps eye contact. Her skin appears light, though it seems as if it has been tanned a little from going to the beach. She has a simple, sleeveless light blue shirt on and some denim shorts. She has a pair of decent sandals on as well.

The two stop their conversation when the lecturer steps into the hall and everyone quiets down.

* * *

After about two hours, the lecture is over and I have about twenty minutes until my next scheduled class. Malik steps out of his seat so that I'm able to go through, and he waves good-bye to the brunette and her friend who are leaving in the opposite direction.

I'm just about to leave when I'm stopped by someone calling to me, "Hey!"

I turn around, and I see Malik going down the steps to catch up to me. "I'm sorry, I should have introduced myself properly earlier," he makes a small sigh. "I just got _so_ caught up in my conversation," he says, as if it were a huge problem for him.

"I-It's alright," I stutter. I try to make myself expressionless to hide my nervousness.

Malik smiles and puts out his right hand. "Malik Ishtar," he introduces himself.

"Ryo Bakura," I nod, and reach out to shake hands with him. His grip is quite...delicate.

"Where will you be heading for your next class?" he asks, with a small tilt of his head.

"I'll be heading to the social sciences building," I reply.

"Perfect!" he says with a clap of his hands. "I'm headed to the theater in the arts building. It's right next to where you're headed. Would you mind walking with me?"

"N-not at all," I give a weak smile. Even though he's...friendly, I'm still a bit nervous. I've never been a conversationalist, but from the looks of it, Malik was probably going to do most of the talking, anyway.

* * *

"So...Ryo. By the way, do you mind if I call you 'Ryo'? Or do you have a preferred nickname?" Malik walks alongside me, and at this point we've walked about a quarter of the way to our destinations.

"No, 'Ryo' is just fine...," I mumble a bit. Malik had been talking the entire time, and it was mostly on how tedious the lecture was and his difficult decision on whether to major in the arts or have it as a minor. I don't remember, he was talking too fast and I was a little tired from absorbing all the information during the lecture. It sounded like him giving a life story or something, though.

"Oh, good," he says. "Anyway, enough about me. What are _you_ majoring in?"

"Psychology," I mutter, looking at the ground ahead of me.

"Oh, how interesting! I have a relative who's a psychiatrist. It's weird though, because they don't seem too sane themeselves, you know what I mean?" he laughs at his own joke.

"Yeah, I guess...," I mutter again. Okay, so I admit he's being a little annoying. But I guess he's just trying to make conversation and try to be friends with me, which I understand. But still—

"Ryo!" I look up, and see Akefia walking toward me.

Malik immediately stops talking when he sees Akefia. "Oooh, who is _that_?" He makes a sound that sounds like a cat growling. Well, that answers _that_ question I had in the back of my mind...

Akefia finally reaches Malik and me. "How was your first class?" he says to me.

"It was alright. Lots to learn," I shrug.

"Hmm," Akefia nods. He looks over at the blonde boy next to me, who appears to be making eyes at him. Malik's mouth turns up into a small smirk as he sizes Akefia up.

"And...who's this? A new friend?" Akefia grins, appearing to be amused by Malik's interest.

"Ah, Akefia, this is...," I trail off, letting Malik finish for me.

"Malik Ishtar," Malik says in a silken voice. He puts his hand out, but not in a manner for shaking hands with.

Akefia smirks at Malik's obvious attempts. He makes a small bow and takes the blonde's hand and kisses it. "_Enchanté_," he says with an equally silken voice.

Malik makes an amused chuckle. "_Et...Comment vous appelez-vous?_"

Akefia laughs lowly and lets go of Malik's hand. He straightens up and says, "_Akefia._ Akefia Touzokuo."

"Hmm...Akefia," Malik says, the name rolling off his tongue. I inwardly sigh.

"Well," Akefia says, his eyes not leaving Malik, "I'll see you later, Ryo." His eyes briefly flicker over to me.

"Yeah," I mutter. And with that, Akefia leaves. I sigh and continue walking. Malik tags behind.

"You know him?" Malik asks.

"Yes." _Obviously_.

"How?"

I stop in my tracks, and Malik almost runs into me. I turn to face him. "I hate to burst your bubble, but he has a boyfriend." I honestly didn't want Bakura's first good relationship to be ruined by my "new friend." I just...had to be assertive.

"You're his boyfriend? !" Malik covers his mouth in shock.

"What? No!" I blush, realizing how vague my sentence was. "My cousin! My...M-my cousin is dating him." It's easier observed than said, I guess.

"Oh!" Malik says, realizing his foolishness. However, his face returns to shock, with a bit of dread in it too this time. "I-I am _so_ sorry—I didn't know. I would've never hit on him if I had known—" Malik looks like he's about to cry.

I blink at his reaction. "Ah...no...it's okay...Y-you don't have to feel bad..."

"Yes I do!" I can sense that he's about to cry. Wow...He's seriously feeling _this_ guilty?

"No, it's not your fault, it's...It's Akefia's fault for leading you on. It's okay, it's—Ah, Malik, please don't cry..." I wince a little as tears roll down his cheeks.

"I-I'm sorry, I just...It's a habit, I-I just..." A habit? I question in my mind. _The crying, or the flirting?_

"I-I'm horrible," Malik sniffs, trying to wipe his tears away. He manages a weak smile. "I'm s-sorry, I cry easily sometimes..."

I feel a bit of warmth in my cheeks. Malik looks...cute, in a weird way. "It's alright..."

His eyes go downcast. "I'm just so embarassed...I was flirting with him right in front of you, when you both knew that he has a boyfriend..." Malik sniffs, the tears finally stopping.

"It's okay, I-I'm sure Akefia wasn't taking you seriously...," I say the last bit as if I were standing on thin ice.

Malik sniffs and looks up. "Y-you sure?" I nod, and he sighs. "I'm sorry...," he mutters.

I smile. "Stop apologizing. It should be Akefia apologizing."

Malik makes a small chuckle. "I guess..." He looks at me, tilting his head in a curious manner. "Is he older? Because he seems like it..."

"He's a senior."

Malik's jaw drops. "...Damn."

I almost burst out laughing at his expression, but settle for a low chuckle instead. "C'mon, let's get to class."

We continue walking, and once we're about to go our seperate ways, Malik speaks up, "Hey, do you...wanna have lunch together?" He looks at me, and his eyes seem cautious—as if this was the most dangerous question in the world.

I make a small smile. "Sure. We can just meet here."

Malik smiles, seeming to have genuinely cheered up. "Great! I'll see you later, Ryo." He waves good-bye to me, and I wave back. I step into the building when he's out of sight.

* * *

**(A/N:) Why do I always end sections/chapters with Ryo leaving an area? Gosh. It's getting old.**

**...Okay, I swear the plot will get introduced next chapter. Or at least start flowering. Or something. Haha. Don't start making conclusions, now. ;) (Too late. XD) I feel bad that this is starting slow, even though I already said at the begnning it would. ;_; If you're still reading, thanks so much.**

**I hope you aren't thrown off by how OOC Malik is. o_o (Though it's most likely 8'D) And I hope you got the point that he's pretty much a...Well, I'll leave that to your genius imaginations. B-B-B-BECAUSE I KNOW I HAVE SMART READERS, RIGHT? /shot**  
**(If you don't get it, go back and pay attention to Malik's way of speech and his gestures.)**  
**If it bugs you that he's so OOC, remember this: It's an _AU_ fic, and it's _fan_fiction. CHILL OUT, DOOOOOOOOD.**

**Oh, and I almost forgot: French translations!**  
**_Enchanté - Nice to meet you _(though I think everyone knows this one, haha)**  
**_Et ... appelez-vous? - And...What is your name?_**  
**Sorry to the French-speakers if it's inaccurate - I just googled it and they're probably rough translations or whatever. *sweatdrop***

**Review...? 8'D -dies-**


	6. Chapter 5

**(A/N:) AND NOW THE PLOT WILL START FLOWERING. SORT OF. MAYBE MORE LIKE BUDDING. PLANTING A SEED? LULZIES.**

**WHY AM I WRITING IN CAPS.**

**Err. Just read.**

**Warnings:****Uhh...nothing really bad this chapter. A few swear words here and there, but...nothing really bad.**

* * *

"So I have a theory," Malik says to me.

"Hm?" I look up from my lunch.

He's sitting across from me. We're sitting at the picnic table conveniently placed under a large oak tree, giving us some nice shade. We normally eat here for lunch breaks, since it was where we sat the first time we had lunch together three days ago. Which brings up another convenience: our schedules are pretty similar in terms of times.

Malik continues, "Well, more like a _hunch_, actually...," he taps his chin in thought.

"Aren't they the same thing?" I say after swallowing the noodles I'm eating. I had bought cheap Chinese take-out from the food court.

"Hush," Malik says, putting a finger out to me. He continues his musing until he finally looks me in the eye again. He leans forward in his seat like he always does when he's about to talk. "So I have this hunch that the English professor is a pedophile."

I cough and nearly choke on my food. I take a large drink from my water bottle, trying to recover.

Malik goes on, not noticing my suffering, "I mean, he just _seems_ like one, don't 'cha think? But if he isn't then he's definitely a creeper. Either way he's creepy."

I clear my throat one last time before speaking. "C-can we talk about something else? You always bring up the weirdest things..." I think back to Malik's one-sided conversation on narwhals being underwater unicorns.

"Sure," Malik says eagerly. "Do you ever wonder _why_ some animals have more baby animals than others?"

"MALIK!"

"What?"

"What did I say about weird subjects? !"

"It's not weird, it's _nature_."

I sigh in disbelief. "Just eat your salad."

Malik shrugs and takes a couple bites of the salad. "This isn't even fresh salad. How disgusting," he pouts.

I raise an eyebrow. "Then why are you still eating it?"

"Because I'm hungry and I don't want to waste it." He has a point.

"You want some of my noodles?" I offer the box, showing him the inside contents.

He makes a quick glance inside. "No thank you, I'm a vegetarian."

I make a puzzled expression. "But there's no meat."

"Yes there is." He points it out.

I look at where he's pointing. "Huh. Weird. You can just eat the noodles, though."

"I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"_Yes_, I'm sure."

"Alright," I shrug.

Malik glances at his watch. "Shit. I have to get to social sciences building." He gets up and grabs his new satchel bag, slinging it on his shoulder. According to him, he had bought it yesterday and given his old messenger bag away because he apparently didn't like the style of it. "I'll see you in English, 'kay? We can make plans for later today." He discards the salad in a nearby trash can.

I nod, with food still in my mouth.

Malik waves and blows a playful kiss in my direction. "_Ciao_, Ryo-lovely."

I roll my eyes at the nickname. "See you, Malik."

* * *

I have about a 45-minute break before my next class, so I decide to stop by the library.

I skim through the biography section, trying to find a book on Pablo Picasso for art class. We're supposed to analyze a piece of an artist's work, write a report on the significance of it, why we think the artist created the work based on what we've read about them, why we chose the particular piece, blah blah blah...I figured choosing an artist that would allow me to think outside the box a little in the analysis would make my life easier.

I finally find a book that seems like it will help me well enough, and close it after skimming through it. I grab another book on Monet in case Picasso turns out to be too complicated for me to figure out for whatever reason. I turn to leave and check out the books, but accidentally bump into someone. Both our books drop to the floor.

I blush in embarrassment and quickly kneel down to help pick up the books. "E-excuse me, I'm sorry, I wasn't looking—"

"No, no, it was my fault," the other person says. I pick up their books and hand them to them, and they do the same. I see their face for the first time.

I freeze.

The person is a guy, and the first thing I notice is his spiked blonde hair going in several different directions. I then notice that he has dark, _lavender_ eyes and _tanned_ skin. He's wearing a black collar shirt and jeans, but I don't care about his clothes at the moment. What's _really_ catching my attention and bugging me at the same time is the fact that he looks a lot like—

"Uh, here're your books..." I'm snapped out of my thoughts by him speaking.

"Oh, uh, thank you," I say, and we exchange the books in our hands.

"Well, uh...see ya," he mutters the last part and walks quickly past me.

I blush. Had I been staring at him too long that I made it awkward? I didn't mean to...Oh well, I think to myself. I head to the register to check out my books.

* * *

I walk into the art classroom later that day. Art is my last class. I sit on the stool, and set my knapsack on the table. I rest my head on it for a moment.

I couldn't stop thinking about that guy during my last class. It was bugging me and poking at my brain constantly—the simple fact that he looked a _lot_ like—

"May I sit here?" I'm once again snapped out of my thoughts by a familiar voice. I look up to see _him_ standing there, gesturing towards the stool next to me.

I blink, dumbstruck for a moment. "Uh...yeah, sure..."

He smiles and takes the seat, putting his messenger bag on the table. I try not to gape at the fact that it looks a lot like—

"You're that guy I ran into at the library earlier, right?" I blink and look at the spiky-haired man.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I am...," I say, regaining a bit of composure.

He smiles again. "I'm sorry for not introducing myself—I was in a hurry." He puts out his hand. "I'm Marik. Marik Ishtar."

I'm about to shake hands with him until time seems to freeze at that moment. _Marik Ishtar_? That sounds a _lot_ like...

Three coincidences too many.

He _looks_ like Malik, his messenger bag is the _same_ as Malik's old one, his _name_—

I shake hands with him before he finds my moment's pause odd. "I'm Ryo Bakura."

"Nice to meet you, Ryo," he says.

I nod. "So...have you always been in this class? I don't think I've ever seen you..."

His smile widens the slightest bit. "Then I guess you haven't been looking."

I make a small chuckle. "Yeah, I guess..."

I'm about to question if he has any relation with Malik, but the professor walks in and begins speaking before I can say anything else.

I decide to keep the question on hold for Malik instead.

* * *

During the last ten minutes of class, we're given a bit of free time to work on our reports.

"Which artist are you doing yours on?" I turn to my right, and see Marik looking directly me.

I'm caught off guard for a moment, "Oh, uh, Picasso."

"Interesting," he nods. He actually doesn't seem a lot like Malik. Maybe they're not related, and it's an enormous coincidence...

"Y-yeah, I guess," I shrug. "So, uh...who are you doing yours on?"

"Mm, I'm still deciding," he says. He pauses for a few moments, then says, "This project is a little odd, don't you think?"

I blink. "What do you mean?"

"I mean...This is art, not art history." He shrugs. "I don't know, I just find it weird."

"Well...," I start, "I guess it's just a way of showing us the significance of art and how it is expressed by different artists." I pause. "And maybe it helps us appreciate art a little more, and helps us become a little inspired for future works." I stop, and stare at Marik's blank expression. I become a little uneasy and say, "O-or something like that. I don't know."

He blinks and says, "That's pretty good. Make sure to put that in your report somewhere."

I feel a bit of heat rise in my cheeks. "Thanks, uh...I'll try to."

He notices my embarrassment and smiles. He takes a glance at his watch, and as he does, the other students are starting to leave. "Well, I gotta get going," he stands up and takes his messenger bag with him. "I'll see you...tomorrow?" he says, as if he's unsure of whether I come to school every day or not.

I give a small smile. "Yeah, I'll see you."

He nods and waves, leaving the classroom. I remain in my seat, staring blankly at the door where he had just left.

"...Holy shit."

* * *

I'm sitting on the couch watching TV, when my cell phone vibrates, indicating I have a new text message. It's from Malik.

I read the message:

_Get your ass down here._

I roll my eyes and get up to start grabbing my stuff. "'Kura, I'm going out," I shout as I grab my jacket.

Bakura stumbles out of his room. "Where to?"

"I'm going out with a friend—"

"Woah, wait, _what_?" Bakura exclaims.

I raise an eyebrow. "I'm going out with a frie—"

"No, I heard what you said," he interrupts. "But...You have _friends_ now?"

I glare at him. "Very funny."

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he waves it off. "So, who is it?"

I make a look of disbelief. "I already told you about him two days ago."

"Oh, the homo?"

"BAKURA!"

He shrugs. "Yeah, I vaguely remember him."

I scoff. "'Vaguely'...," I mutter. _You snapped when you found out about him flirting with Akefia..._"I'll be back later. I don't know if I'll be home for dinner or not, so just heat up leftovers if you get hungry."

"'Kay," Bakura says, following me to the door.

I walk out the door, waving good-bye.

Bakura waves back from the doorway. "Bye sweetie, use protection!" he says in a higher-pitched voice.

"BAKURA!"

I hear him snickering.

* * *

I step out of the elevator and see Malik standing there a couple feet away, his arms crossed and foot tapping impatiently. He's changed his outfit, and it's less casual than the one he was wearing earlier today.

He peers over his sunglasses at me. "Took you long enough," he says, sounding annoyed.

"Sorry," I mutter. "My roommate's weird."

He chuckles and grabs me by the arm. "Let's go, Ryo."

"Gah!" I'm dragged by him, and we head to his car. I'm somehow not surprised as we're walking towards a silver Lexus convertible, and it beeps indicating the doors being unlocked.

"Uh...nice," I say. I step into the passenger's seat and shut the door.

"Thank you," Malik responds. He fastens his seatbelt and starts the car.

* * *

We've stopped at café that serves crêpes. I had told Malik earlier when we were making plans that I have never tried them, so he insisted on coming here.

Malik sips at his iced tea. His sunglasses rest next to his glass that is already in the middle of condensation.

"So, what's your roommate like?" Malik leans forward a little in his seat.

"He's my cousin," I say, taking a small sip of my iced coffee.

Malik suddenly retreats back. "Wait, is this the same cousin dating...?"

I simply nod.

I catch a glimpse of Malik's reddening face before he puts his head in his hands. "Well, this is embarrassing...," he mumbles.

I laugh a little. "Relax, it's not a big deal."

He sighs and looks at me again. "Sorry."

"It's alright." I pause, then continue on my description of Bakura. "He's...bipolar sometimes. He'll be in a good mood one moment then get all pissy the next." I pause again, then say, "He's pretty unhelpful when it comes to cleaning up and cooking and stuff, but I guess I'm used to doing it myself," I shrug.

"Damn," Malik says, sighing. "I don't think I'd be able to deal with _that_." He smiles at me. "I'm amazed with your tolerance."

I chuckle. "So, uh, Malik...do you share an apartment too?"

His rather content expression turns emotionless. "Uh...Not really. I...still live at my house."

"Really? That's nice," I smile. "You still live close to your family, and all...," I feel a bit of nostalgia.

Malik mumbles something incomprehensible, and toys with the straw of his drink.

"Hmm?" I lean forward a little.

"Nothing," he mumbles. "I was just saying...I don't really _live_ with my family..."

I make a look of confusion. "You...?"

He says nothing, his eyes resting on his iced tea. I stay silent for a couple moments. Malik remains silent as well, and I figure now would be a good time to change the subject.

And to ask the question I've been putting on hold.

"Uh, hey, Malik?"

"Mm?" his gaze doesn't lift. He continues to toy with the straw.

"Well, uh...do you live alone?"

He stops his movements and looks up at me. His eyes are expressionless, and he finally says, "Not necessarily."

I purse my lips. "Err...Do you mind if I ask..."

"Ask what?" he seems a little curious.

"Well, uh," I don't understand why I'm nervous about asking this. "Is there any possibility that you have any..._relation_ to a...Marik Ishtar...?" I pause, staring at him cautiously. Malik seems to tense up, and his eyes seem to narrow the slightest bit. He says nothing.

I become uneasy. "It's just that, uh, I kinda _ran into_ him today and we introduced ourselves and stuff...And...I just couldn't help but notice that he kinda sorta...looks like you." I stop, waiting for a reaction. Malik still remains unmoving. I clear my throat, "I-It just seemed weird, like...His hair was different, but his face overall and especially his name..."

Malik still remains expressionless. He stares at me for the longest time, and I feel myself tense under his gaze. I flinch when Malik pushes himself up, using the table as leverage. He leans forward, and I feel his eyes boring through mine. I blush a little, knowing a few people are most likely giving us some odd stares.

He inhales deeply before speaking, as if trying to contain himself, "_Yes_…I _do _have some sort of _relation_ with _Marik Ishtar_," he says candidly. I inwardly sigh of a bit of relief. I was worried that I had made a huge mistake and insulted Malik in some way. He continues, "And if you want to be _specific_, he's my _brother_. And _yes_, he's my _older_ brother, and _yes_, I _do_ live with him, and _yes_, I _do_ dislike him with a _burning_ passion."

I blink.

Oh.

Scratch that about making a huge mistake.

"Uh...sir?"

We both look up to see the server, with our crêpes in a tray in his hand. "Here are your guys'...uh, orders." Malik sits back down so that the server can place the tray on the table.

"Thank you," Malik says curtly.

"Thank you," I mumble.

The server nods and walks away, leaving Malik and me in silence as we eat.

I can't help but feel like I'm currently on thin ice. Or maybe I've already fallen through it.

* * *

Malik was silent the entire time he drove me home. He hadn't spoken to me since he told me Marik was his brother, except for asking me to pay my part of the bill. Instead of pulling up to the entrance of the apartment building, he pulls into the parking lot and parks. He turns off the engine. Both of us are silent.

I'm about to speak, but Malik does instead. "Ryo, I'm...I'm sorry. I overreacted."

I shake my head a little. "No, it's my fault, I shouldn't have asked—"

"No, it's entirely _my_ fault," Malik says, finally looking at me. "I...I just get weird when people bring up Marik, I'm sorry. You didn't know, and you were just wondering, and I probably made you feel bad...," he trails off. He looks like he's going to cry. I realize how ridiculously sensitive he can be.

"No, you didn't make me feel bad...," I console him. "I...I just got worried afterward, I guess. And...a little more curious, I have to admit," I scratch my head. "But that's your business, so...you don't have to explain anything to me."

Malik makes a sad smile. He remains silent, turning to face the steering wheel. I'm not sure whether our conversation is over or not, so I stay put.

"Ryo...," Malik finally speaks, "...why are you so accepting of me?" he says quietly.

"What...What do you mean?" I tilt my head a little.

"I mean...You've only known me for three—well, four if you count today—four days, and...well...," he finally looks up at me. "Why...Why are you so accepting of me? Why haven't you _left_ yet?"

"I...," I don't know what to say. I'm a bit overwhelmed. "I...Malik, why would I leave you?" His eyes widen a little.

"Well...you've dealt with me for a fourth day now. I don't understand how...how so damn accepting you are," he says explicitly.

"Why wouldn't I...accept you?" I question.

Malik straightens up. "You've…You've seen how I am, Ryo. I'm overly sensitive, I'm bossy, I'm annoying, I talk too much for my own good, I'm a _flaming homosexual_, for god's sake—no one's accepted me like this!" he bangs his fist on the wheel, making the car horn blare for a second.

I tentatively place a hand on his shoulder. "Malik...," I start, "I...I guess I 'accept' you because...you're a human being like everyone else. Just because you see yourself like you do doesn't mean every single person sees you the same way." I purse my lips, "Okay, I admit I agreed with you a bit with your description, but...that doesn't mean I'll automatically reject you."

Malik stares at me, disbelief in his eyes. "...Are you an angel or something?"

I supress my laughter to a low chuckle. "No, Malik. I'm not an angel."

He suddenly throws his arms around me. "Ryo-lovely, you're too pure for me. I don't know if I can stand you anymore," he says the last sentence jokingly.

I simply laugh and shake my head.

* * *

**(A/N:) Holy shiznits this chapter was longer than the others. I don't know if it seems that way to you gaiz or not, though. But according to the amount of words, IT'S LONGER.**

**Anyway, LOLLOLLOLLOL corny meetings between two people FTW.**  
**Well when you're at a school in a library what do you expect? Psshht, high school never ends. (Wait, what?)**

**Okay, I have to apologize for the _(500) Days of Summer_ references. There were only like, two or something, but still. Haha. It's a good movie. My apologies, for whatever reason. ;w; (VIRTUAL COOKIES IF YOU POINT THEM OUT IN YOUR REVIEW~)**

**Soooo, in my eyes, I ended this chapter oddly. That "deep talk" was a spur-of-the-moment thing. o_o I kind of just didn't want there to be just a plain apology and that's it. Because, you know, that's boring. So...yeah. But at least there was a little more character development, right...? /shot (Maybe too much, Natsu.)**

**Anyway, I have no idea what's going to happen next. Or do I. DUN DUN DUUNN.**

**Reviews fill my inbox with happiness and rainbows and unicorns. But mostly happiness. Which is sad because I was hoping for some unicorns.**


	7. Chapter 6

**(A/N:) ...*dies***

I'm sorry this took a while. For some reason...Yeah, I don't even remember why this was taking me so long. ;_; When I sat down to continue writing this chapter, I had to skim through what I've previously written for this to get back into the _Smallest World_ mode. Hahah. -_-;

So...yeah. Enjoy. This plot is going so slow, even I'm getting impatient.

Warnings: Foul language. Oh, and sexual themes—GEMINISHIPPING, YA MAN. I decided to just bump this fic rating up to M already in case…

* * *

"Can you hand me the round brush?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," I pause what I'm sketching and lean over to grab the brush and hand it to Marik.

"Thanks," he mutters, his eyes never leaving the canvas.

"Mm-hmm," I say, going back to my sketch.

About two weeks have gone by, and we're working on our new projects already. To Marik's content, the project involves actual art-making unlike the last project.

We're towards the back of the classroom, where it's a little quieter. The rest of the class remains towards the front, working on their projects as well. Soft chatter fills the room, and a radio is turned on to a popular music station at low volume.

The back of Marik's canvas is facing me, because he refuses to let me see his "genius work-in-the-making." I had rolled my eyes at the thought, simply because of the way he had said it.

"Alright, I'm done," Marik sighs and takes off his glasses, rubbing his eyes. He puts his brushes down as well.

"Liar," I look over at him. "No way you only finished in two days."

He looks back at me with a grin that clearly says he had been caught. "Okay, okay, I admit—I have some details to add if I want at least a B, but it's done to me. Besides, I worked on some of it at home."

"Wait, why not go for an A?" I raise an eyebrow.

"I'm lazy," he says bluntly.

I roll my eyes. "Underachiever."

"Overachiever."

"You haven't even seen mine!" I argue.

He grins mischievously. "Oh, but I'm sure it has, 'special attention to detail and shading, and the mood of it simply—'"

"Shush!" I kick his leg, but I'm smiling anyway.

"Ow, that hurt, I'm sure I'm internally bleeding now," he says sarcastically.

"If I show you my sketch, will you shut up?"

"Maybe."

I turn my sketchpad to him, and he begins to study it.

"Wow, that's nice. Where is this?" he glances up at me.

"My front porch, back at home. I had to rely on my memory...," I shrug. It's a simple concept, but hey, it fits the project theme: _A place that has meaning to you._

He nods. "It seems...peaceful. I like the dark shading."

"Thanks. Now let's see yours," I grin.

"Oh, sneaky, sneaky. Just because you showed me yours I have to show you mine now?" he raises an eyebrow.

"Yes." I say blatantly.

He rolls his eyes. "Fine, fine..." He picks up the canvas off the easel, and rests it on his knee. My mouth nearly drops as I study the painting.

The main focus seems to be the cave, which is large and rocky. The floor of the cave contains smooth rocks and saltwater, and the cave is open to the ocean. A sandy beach and a cliff are shown in the background, and a lighthouse rests on the cliff. I notice that it isn't daytime in the painting, and it's a little after sunset.

"Wow...It's really pretty," my eyes widen.

"Thanks," he says.

"Where is this?" I ask, my eyes never leaving the painting.

"I don't remember where specifically, actually. But I just know it as a beach my family and I would go to a lot when I was younger," he shrugs. He points at the cave, "Here—this is where I'd swim to whenever we went there. I'd just hide out there until the sun went down and my family would become frantic, looking for me." He seems to smile the slightest bit at the memory; from mischief or nostalgia, I can't tell.

_A place that has meaning to you._

I pause, suddenly remembering Malik.

_"I don't really_ live _with my family..."_

I'm suddenly curious again. I almost ask Marik, but then think that the question may be a little too personal. I also realize that neither of us have ever brought up Malik—which is strange, because looking at Marik, it doesn't seem like the feeling of hate is mutual...Then again, Malik didn't seem like the type to hate his brother, either...I shake the thoughts out of my mind, and decide to make this simpler.

"Oh, Marik, that...that reminds me," I say, looking up from the painting. "Your brother is Malik Ishtar, right?"

"Hm?" he blinks. "Uh...yeah. How did you...?"

"He's...a friend my mine, I guess you can say," I smile. Well, considering how much Malik tends to cling to me nowadays, it's not really a guess...Oh, Malik.

"Oh...Oh!" Marik looks like realization just completely dawned on him. "Why didn't I realize that? You two _are_ in the same year..." He shakes his head, "Wow, I'm slow."

I laugh. "No, I guess it's just because I've never brought the fact up." I pause, remembering something else. "Err...Excuse me if this question is too personal, but...," I fidget in my seat.

"Yeah?" Marik urges me to continue. He puts his painting back on the easel before looking at me again.

"Well, it's just that, uh...Malik seems to...not _like_ you very much...," I talk slowly, trying to choose my words carefully. "Do you...mind saying why? I mean, if you know, that is..." Marik stares at me for a few moments, and I tense under his gaze. I'm afraid that this will possibly be a repeat of the incident with Malik at the café.

Suddenly, Marik smiles and speaks, "Malik...Malik has always hated me, I guess you could say." He shrugs, as if it's no big deal. "I kinda have an idea why, but...I guess it's better to not jump to conclusions and make myself think I understand my little brother," he chuckles a little.

I nod, showing him I understand.

* * *

"So, has my _idiot_ brother started to annoy you yet?" Malik asks. He takes a bite of the French fries we're sharing. We had stopped at McDonald's for a snack after our last classes, because Malik was hungry and I had no choice. My car is in the shop, and I have been getting rides from Malik lately.

I chuckle a bit weakly. "No. He's...actually pretty nice, Malik."

He scoffs and turns his head to the side, but I see him roll his eyes anyway. "Marik...Nice...Yeah, _right_...," he mutters.

"I'm serious, Malik," I lean forward in my seat a little. "He's...nice. I...I don't understand why you hate him...," I mumble a bit, hoping he doesn't hear the last sentence.

Malik's head snaps back to look at me, and I retreat a little. He obviously heard what I had said. His lavender eyes narrow. "_Anyway_...," he says, indicating he's about to change the subject. "I have nothing to do today—I have no homework or studying to do. Let's go to your apartment."

I raise an eyebrow. "Why can't we go to your house instea—?"

"C'mon, let's go," Malik throws away the remaining French fries and grabs his bag and keys. He's already heading out the door, and I sigh and follow a few feet after him. I have no choice, anyway; unless if I want to walk or take the bus home.

* * *

"'Kura, I'm home," I say as I open the door to the apartment. "Malik's here too."

"Shit, Ryo—" I see Bakura jump up from the couch and quickly dash to his room. He comes back out, pulling on his jeans over his boxers. "What'd I say about bringing people over?"

"I texted you," I say, looking at him skeptically.

Bakura pauses, then looks at his phone on the coffee table. He picks it up and flips it open to look at the screen. "...Oh."

I roll my eyes and just then realize that Malik has been hiding behind me the entire time. It isn't working out too well since he's a little taller than me. I look back at him and see an expression of apprehension on his face. At first I question it, but then realize Malik's _still_ not over the whole flirting-with-my-cousin's-boyfriend thing. I also remember that Bakura's never met Malik face-to-face and I have no idea how he'll act towards him.

Well, this should be 'interesting.'

I decide to take the risk, and step aside. Malik immediately regains some of his composure by standing up straight. "Bakura, Malik. Malik, Bakura," I gesture.

"H-hi," Malik says. He's rigid.

"Hm," Bakura responds, his arms crossed and looking to the side. Malik seems to loosen up a bit, seeing that Bakura didn't appear to give him too much grief.

As if on cue, I hear the door open behind us and we all look. I already know it's Akefia, since he's the only other person that has a key to our apartment.

"Oh, hey Ryo," he says, as if he's surprised that I'm home. His gaze turns and he sees Malik. "Malik," he acknowledges him.

Malik seems to have a surprised expression because of the fact Akefia had remembered his name. He weakly nods, and I can tell he's trying the best he can to not make any moves that could potentially be interpreted as flirting. Akefia walks past us, and gives Bakura a pat on the head. Bakura doesn't seem to accept this greeting, and he immediately grabs Akefia by his shirt and pulls him into a kiss. The tanned one seems to be surprised. I avert my gaze, while I notice Malik does nothing. I nudge him a little, and he seems to be unaware of the fact that it's rude to stare. He simply shrugs at me, clueless.

Bakura finally pulls away from Akefia, eyeing him and licking his lips, satisfied. He glances over to us, seeming to glare at Malik. Akefia mumbles something to him, and Bakura simply looks back up at him and shrugs.

"So...ah...," I try to ease the awkward moment. "Malik, will you be staying for dinner?"

"Huh?" he turns to me. "Well, if it's not too much trouble..."

"Not at all," I say, smiling. I turn to Akefia, "I assume you'll be joining us as usual?"

"Yup," Akefia says, heading to the fridge and trying to find something to snack on. Bakura has headed back to his place on the couch already.

I nod and start to head to the kitchen. Malik follows close behind. "Want to help me get dinner ready?" I ask.

Malik cringes a bit. "I'm...not too sure if you _want_ me even _near_ a stove..."

I blink. "Why?"

"I'm _terrible_ at cooking," he mumbles sullenly. "I've never been very good."

For some reason, this surprises me. "Then...who cooks all the meals at your house?"

"Marik," he mumbles and pouts, and crosses his arms. He looks a lot like a sulking child. Marik cooks? More surprises for me.

"Well...," I trail off as I start to look through the cabinets. "We'll make pasta. And...," I look in the fridge, "...Ah, here. We have some vegetables left, so you can help chop those up and we can add them as well."

"Ew," I hear Bakura loudly state in the other room.  
I shoot him a glare. I glance back in the fridge and say, "_Fine_, I'll add some white chicken breast in it or something..."

Bakura makes no response, so I assume he's agreeing to it. I turn to Malik and assure him that he doesn't have to eat the meat.

* * *

There's an awkward atmosphere at the dinner table. I feel a sense of déjà vu when I recall the first night I had dinner with both Bakura and Akefia.

"So...how was everyone's Friday?" I say, trying to start up a conversation.

"Crappy," Bakura says bluntly.

"Okay," Akefia shrugs.

"Fine," Malik mutters.

I feel like hanging my head in defeat. Now I know how parents feel when asking their teenage children how their day was.

"So, um, Akefia...How come I never saw you at school today?" I ask. Now I feel like I'm a parent about to bust their kid for skipping school.

"I had some work to do on a separate campus," Akefia responds. "The one only a few blocks over."

"Oh, I see...," I nod. "I didn't know there was another campus that close."

"I think they built it just last year," he muses.

"Hey, Ryo," Bakura says.

I look at Bakura. "What?"

"Stop pretending this isn't awkward," he says explicitly.

I have no response for that. I go back to eating to fill in the blank.

"Well, _someone_ appears to be in the best mood of their life...," Malik mumbles. I nearly choke at Malik suddenly speaking, and in that manner too.

Bakura drops his fork. "...What?"

"Oh, nothing," Malik says cheerily. He puts his fork down and his elbows rest on the table. His fingers intertwine as he folds his hands. He gives a small smile. "I just can't help but _notice_ how big of a _stick there is up your ass_."

I hear Akefia unsuccessfully hold back a snort of laughter behind his hand as he eats. I hold back a chuckle behind my hand as discreetly as possible. Bakura stares at the blonde, expression unreadable. "...What the fuck did you just say to me?" he narrows his eyes.

Malik's amusement increases. "I don't know, you just seem like the type who has a flagpole up their ass or something," he shrugs, as if it were a matter-of-fact. Well, Bakura isn't exactly prim and proper, but he is kind of uptight with rules and how I do things sometimes...And he is kind of pissed half the time.

Malik continues, "You greeted me rather rudely, first of all. But considering the fact I hit on your boyfriend, I don't blame you," he shrugs again. Bakura seems to tense, and Akefia pretends to be ignorant of the situation. Malik continues, "But really—the entire time Ryo was cooking earlier, you kept complaining and telling him not to add certain things to it. When you came over to check on the cooking, you criticized it. When Ryo set the food on the table, I noticed your look of distaste," he pauses to lean forward. "...You're kind of an asshole." I then notice that Malik had dropped his 'normal' way of speech.

Bakura stares at him. There's pure silence in the room, and I myself am surprised. I'm surprised that Malik even had the guts to say those things to someone he had just met. I'm surprised Bakura hasn't leapt from his seat to kill Malik yet.

Bakura breathes in deeply, shutting his eyes. He seems to be counting to ten or something. He finally speaks, "...And what makes you _think_ you can criticize me like that?"

Malik clearly seems to notice that Bakura is holding back. I'm wondering if Malik has a death wish. "Nothing much—I just hate seeing how badly you treat my friend."

"We're related. It's natural," he says through his teeth.

The blonde one shrugs. "I suppose, but even being someone myself who despises another relative, _I_ don't even act like that towards them." I automatically know he's talking about Marik.

"I don't..._despise_ Ryo," Bakura says, opening his eyes at this point. I already know Bakura doesn't hate me, but hearing him say it like that is kind of surprising.

"I still see no reason why you should treat him like you do," Malik says blatantly.

"...Ever think _you_ could be the one with the stick up your ass, here?" Bakura glares.

"Maybe. Anything's possible." Just then, he grins widely.

A moment of stillness.

…He had been screwing with Bakura for fun the whole time.

Bakura pauses, seeming to realize this. "...Fuck you, faggot," he says brashly.

"Takes one to know one," Malik says quickly and purposely before going back to eating.

Bakura is about to get up and probably beat Malik to death, but Akefia holds him down and I stand up and say, "Who wants dessert?" before he does.

* * *

"Hey, Ryo, let's go bowling," Malik says cheerfully. He's reverted back to his normal way of speech, and he's also seemed to have gotten hyped up on the ice cream he had for dessert earlier. We're both washing the dishes while Akefia and Bakura lounge on the couch as usual.

"Sure; when?" I say, handing him a dish to rinse.

"Tonight!"

I stop scrubbing the dish in my hand. "They're...open this late?" I glance at the clock.

"Yeah, they're open past midnight on Fridays and Saturdays," he says excitedly. "Sososo? Wanna go?"

"Uh...," I say, looking at him skeptically.

"Please? I'll pay your fee, if you want!" he begs.

I sigh, "Alright, fine—"

"Yay!" he wraps his arms around me.

"Ack, Malik, hold on—"

"What?" Malik lets go and stares at me, alarmed.

"Look, latest you bring me back is midnight, okay?" I say.

"Yeah, okay," he nods, agreeing quickly.

We finish the dishes, and I grab my wallet and key to the apartment. "We're going bowling, you guys wanna come?" I say to Akefia and Bakura. Malik seems to become alarmed that I've invited them without asking him, but then realizes that I'm just trying to be polite.

"Nah, we're okay," Akefia answers for the both of them. Bakura pays no attention. "I gotta get up early for work tomorrow, anyway."

I nod in understanding. "Alright, I'll he home around midnight. Bye guys," I wave, as I open the door.

Malik slings his bag on his shoulder as he waves at the both of them. "Nice meeting you, _Bakura_," he winks.

Bakura says nothing in response as we leave.

* * *

"I hate that guy," I say blatantly, still staring at the television screen.

Akefia ruffles my hair. "He's just messing with you."

"No difference. Still hate him." It's almost stated automatically.

A soft chuckle emits from the tanned man next to me. He moves my hair away and kisses my temple. "He's funny. I like him."

I glare at him. "Like him too much and you can consider yourself single."

He kisses me briefly on the lips. "C'mon, 'Kura, you know I could never find anyone else like you," he gives a small smile.

"Enough with the corny crap," I roll my eyes. "You're stuck with me and you know it."

"Well," Akefia says, lacing his fingers in the strands of my hair, "at least I want to be."

I open my mouth, but then decide to not respond at all to that.

He smirks. "No comments? Has my charm made you speechless?" he jokes, kissing my hand.

I scoff. "No, I just decided to be nice and not tell you how much of an idiot you are," I say defensively.

Akefia chuckles, his warm breath coming in contact with the skin on my hand. "You know, you're acting a little odder than usual tonight."

"Well, that blonde brat didn't exactly put me in the best of moods," I grumble.

He chuckles again. "Lighten up, 'Kura," he nuzzles my neck.

I grunt, unimpressed. Apparently, Akefia takes this as a challenge.

He nips at my neck, and I still remain expressionless. I feel his hand trail underneath my shirt, and I falter a little.

"What are you doing?" I say a bit warningly.

"What's it look like?" I feel his lips curl into a smirk before he starts leaving marks on my neck. His tongue makes a trail of saliva up to my jaw line, and then he starts sucking and nipping there too. I falter once again, making a small noise of uncertainty.

"Didn't you say you have to get up early tomorrow?"

"I lied," he says. Before I can even react, he pins me down and attacks my mouth with his own. I grunt at the sudden action, but moan in the back of my throat when he starts a war with my tongue. I feel his hand move underneath my shirt to play with one of my nipples for a moment, then trail down to my abdomen, then the hem of my jeans—

"W-wait," I gasp out, pulling away from the kiss and putting my hand on his wrist, stopping him from unbuttoning my jeans. He looks at me, concern evident in his face.

"What?" he questions quietly.

"C...," I trail off, "...Can we go to my room?"

Akefia's expression becomes confused. We both know that we've had sex on the couch before.

I purse my lips. "I-I just don't want Ryo walking in out of nowhere or something," I say as an excuse.

Akefia nods and gets off of me, helping me up. I stare up at him for a moment, and he stares back at me, most likely waiting for me to take the first step.

I dash as fast as I can to my room.

Akefia blinks before realizing I had left. He follows quickly, but I shut the door and lock it with the chain lock I had installed a few days ago. Ryo questioned it, but I simply stated I wanted more privacy (even though he barely steps foot in my room, unless if it's to wake me up or get laundry).

"Bakura!" he says, sounding rather frustrated. He opens the door, but he's immediately stopped by the chain.

"Muahaha," I say triumphantly, in a teasing manner.

I hear Akefia scoff on the other side. "Very funny, now let me in." The chain is fairly short, so his hand wouldn't be able to fit through and unlatch the chain. He's able to see me, though.

Talk about an advantage.

I make a small smirk. I walk slowly towards the opening of the door that he's looking through. "Okay, I'll let you in...," I say lowly, "...On one condition." I place my hand on the lock.

"What is it?" he says suspiciously.

I smirk. I lean in close to the half of his face I can see, and whisper huskily, "You wanted to fuck me, right? That's what you want?"

I see half of his smirk. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

I lick my lips before whispering, "Tell me...Tell me how bad you want me." I notice Akefia becoming a little less excited for a moment, but then the eye I can see seems to perk up.

He regains his composure. "Alright," he says calmly.

"Wait," I say, and the half of his face I see becomes questioning. "...Tell me how bad you want me. And...Tell me what you would do...," I trail off, starting to lift up my shirt, "...What you would do...if you had me, right now...," I finish, taking my shirt off completely. My hand goes back to the lock. Both of us have a satisfied look on our faces, I'm sure.

From what I can see of him, he eyes me hungrily and licks his lips. "Oh, the things I'd do to that pretty little body of yours...," he says huskily.

"Mmm," I shift a little, "Tell me, Akefia..." My free hand comes up and I begin to trace the small dips and curves of my upper body. I slowly trace circles around my nipple. I let small moans escape my mouth for his amusement.

He chuckles lowly for a moment, enjoying the show. "I'd love to fuck that body of yours straight through the mattress...I suppose I'd do _anything_ to do so, 'Kura..."

I give a small sigh, though my smirk is plastered on my face. My hand moves down to the hem of my jeans. "Mm-hmm...Tell me more...," I grin toothily.

"Well," he chuckles once again. "If I could, I'd run my hands over every inch of your body right now..." I see half of his grin. "After all, I know _all_ your sweet spots...I know what makes you _tick_—what makes you _moan_—what makes you _scream_."

I moan at the thought, unbuttoning my jeans. My eyes are half-lidded, and I stare at Akefia through them. He stares back expectantly—for me to unlock the door or to start jacking off for him, I don't know. I decide to extend the fun for myself a little.

I move the chain halfway, and unzip my jeans at the same time. I see the chain get tugged on as Akefia tries to get through. I smirk at his dismay.

"Ah, ah, ah, not yet..." I lean into his face that is now fully visible. "Now, tell me—ah—would you give me satisfaction? Or would you be selfish and take it all in for yourself...?" I grind into my own hand, slowly, making sure he can see.

"Oh, of _course_ I'd satisfy you as well, Bakura...," he says, smiling deviously. I see a small movement from him. "I'd...I'd l-listen to what you w-want—go faster if you t-tell me 'faster', go d-deeper if you say 'deeper'—"

I don't question his stuttering. "Then _show me_." I unlock the door completely and he takes the opportunity right away. He grabs me by both shoulders, and my hands fly to his waist as he pushes me all the way to the bed. His lips crash onto mine as we crash onto the bed itself, and he's immediately dominant. I moan, and grind upwards. He's already unzipped his own pants—the little bastard. I knew it.

I bring my arms up and wrap them around his neck, bringing him closer. He pulls back for a brief moment to pull off his shirt, making me whine at the loss. He immediately comes back down to ravage my neck with his mouth after tossing his shirt away. I groan, wanting him to take care of the 'problem' I had 'downstairs.'

"Nngh...Akefia...," I grind upwards again.

"Mm...? Y-yeah, I know, just wait...," he mumbles, making more marks on my neck and moving down to start making more on my chest.

"Nn...No, now, Akefia...," I protest.

He moves further down and licks below my naval. "Mm, fine," he says, nuzzling me through my boxers at this point.

"Ugh...," I feel myself thrust upward a little at this. "I fucking hate you...," I lie back and rest an arm on my forehead.

"For what?" Akefia says, fingers lingering on the hem of my boxers, looking up at me.

"For telling me all that shit and getting me hard as hell...," I mumble.

He simply chuckles and pulls down my boxers and pants with it. "All in good time, my dear 'Kura."

"Hmph," I grumble.

* * *

**(A/N:) SWEET MOTHER OF CRAP THIS CHAPTER IS LONG.**

**…TO ME.**

**...So I'm sorry that Marik is pretty much completely OOC. But here's the thing: I'm still in the process of developing his character in this AU. Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get some of it...eventually...Soon...Next chapter...I hope...;_;**

**OH YEAH, and Marik wears glasses in this AU. Lolololololol. Sexy, right. I'VE MADE HIM PARTLY BLIND, OH GAWD, THAT JUST ATTRACTS ALL THE LADIES AND FELLAS, HEEEYYY—No I'm kidding. With that last part.**

**Yeah, Bakura hates Malik more than he probably did before meeting him now. Lulzies. So no thiefshipping in this, sadly. Haha. Unless if something weird happens.**

**And to the geminishipping fans…you're welcome. I think. Yeah. I'm not used to writing that.**

**…Okay, I'm really hoping I'm able to get this going somewhere in the next chapter. I'm getting annoyed with myself. -_-;**


	8. Chapter 7

**(A/N:) Shout out to Celestial Reign! She drew me fanart for this fic. Thanks, CR~**

**I wish this chapter didn't turn out so...corny. But it's hard to make stuff like this _not_ corny...at least for me.**

**Warnings: Laaanguage.**

* * *

For some reason, I've always liked Thursdays. It's right after halfway through the week, and gives me hope of the week ending—not that I've been dreading the weeks lately or anything, though.

It's been almost a week since Malik's first met Bakura. Malik still comes over, but they ignore each other most of the time. Akefia remains his polite self to Malik, and Malik has resorted to just being nice and friendly to him. Bakura doesn't _seem_ bothered by their friendly, casual conversations, but I can tell he's seething inside. Just yesterday, I saw him take a grip of his soda can a little too tightly when Malik started up a conversation with Akefia. I couldn't help but notice that his teeth were grinding against each other, too. Perhaps I'm being a little too observant, but I guess I'm just looking out for him, in a strange way.

Things seem to be settling in with each other, I suppose.

I park my car and turn off the engine before grabbing my knapsack. I open the car door a few inches, when a truck suddenly parks next to me out of nowhere.

"Shit—" I bring the car door closer to myself. "Jeez, watch it...," I mumble to the tinted windows of the truck now in front of my view. I let myself out of the car and slam my door shut, locking it. I hear the driver of the truck get out as well, and I'm prepared to give the driver a glare for nearly running into my car door. When I see the driver, my eyes widen instead.

Marik turns and sees me. "Oh, Ryo. Funny seeing you here," he jokes a little.

I blush a bit in embarrassment. "Hey Marik."

He flashes a smile. "Weird, I never see you in the morning. What building do you have your first class in?"

"The science building," I reply. "Your brother and I have the same class."

He nods. "Ah, I see now. I have a math class in the morning, so I guess that's why."

I nod as well. "So...you and Malik drive to school separately?"

"Yeah," he says, leaning on his truck and crossing his arms. "Normally, at least. I actually have my first class a little later than yours and Malik's, but I needed to come early for some stuff."

"I see," I nod, trying to show interest.

Marik stares at me for a while, and I feel myself tense under his gaze.

"Um...Marik? Are you okay?" I say tentatively.

"Huh?" Marik snaps out of his trance. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine," he smiles a little. "Say, uh...when do you usually have lunch?"

"Lunch? Um...after my second class, around twelve-forty. Why?" I question.

"Well, uh...," he scratches the back of his neck. "I have a break before my first few afternoon classes around the same time, so...," he trails off, his gaze moving downward and off to the side.

"Yeah...?" I urge him to keep going.

He coughs into his hand. "I...I was just wondering if...maybe...you wanna have lunch together?" He looks up at me, and I must have had a totally blank expression, because he suddenly starts getting more nervous. "Y-you know, just as friends, n-not like—"

I blink out of my dazed state. "Oh, yeah—yeah, I know what you mean." I nod.

"So...," Marik says leaning forward a little.

I smile a little, feeling awkward. "Well, that sounds nice and everything, Marik—really, it does. But...I normally eat with Malik, so...I'm not too sure if he'd be very happy knowing I'm kind of...well, ditching him for his brother." I shrug a little.

Marik's shoulders drop. "Oh," he says, sounding and looking disappointed. I instantly feel guilty.

"But, um...," I scratch my head. "I-If you don't have classes after four o' clock, maybe we can go somewhere, i-if you want..."

He instantly brightens up a bit. "Yeah, art's my last class for today, and I don't have plans either, so...," he shrugs. "We can...make plans during art later, yeah?"

I nod. "Yeah, sure. That sounds good." I give him a small smile.

He smiles back. "Great. I'll...see you later, then," he gives a small wave and starts walking away.

I wave back. "Bye..." Soon he's out of sight, and I put my hand down, forgetting to do so after waving. I feel like an idiot, now. I cover my face, and clearly feel that it's warmer.

"Why am I acting like this...," I mumble.

* * *

"I'm just saying that it becomes a pain in the ass after a while," Malik says, while munching on the sweet potato fries he bought. "So, are you up for driving around town later?"

"Huh?" I look up from my food.

"Drive. After class later. We can go to that bubble teahouse too," Malik grins.

"After...?" I blink.

"What's with you today?" Malik says, sounding a bit annoyed, but concern shows in his expression. "You've been spacing out a _lot_. Is there something on your mind?"

I blush a little. Okay, I admit I had been thinking about the conversation I had with Marik this morning, and I couldn't stop thinking about him for some reason. First of all, the fact that he seemed so..._hesitant_ (and not to mention nervous) to ask me to have lunch with him bothered me. Maybe...Maybe it's just my imagination. I was kind of nervous at the time, too, I guess. But why was _I_ nervous—?

"Ryo!"

"Wha?" I'm snapped out of my thoughts.

"There you go! You keep doing that!" Malik sighs and shakes his head.

"Oh, um...," I start, "S-Sorry, I can't hang out with you after classes—I-I have plans..."

Malik sighs again. "Alright, I'll go to the teahouse myself then. We can go together Saturday, if you're not busy that is. Tomorrow I have a meeting for a class I'm taking, so I can't go that day. Is that alright with you?"

He had spoken so fast I almost didn't catch what he said. "Uh, y-yeah, I don't think I'll be busy on Saturday."

"Good," Malik smiles. He slings his satchel over his shoulder and gets up from his seat.

"I'll see you later, 'kay? Bye, Ryo-lovely," he kisses his hand and waves good-bye with it.

"Bye," I mutter as he leaves.

* * *

"So is there anywhere specific you'd like to go to?" Marik is sitting across from me, sketching.

I'm sketching as well. "Mm...I'm not sure. I don't know a lot of the places around here."

"Hmm...Oh, what about that bubble teahouse?"

My eyes widen a little. "Err, no, I-I don't think that's a good idea," I say, remembering that Malik said he was going to stop by there himself.

"Why not?" Marik looks over his glasses questioningly.

I blush a little. "Well, uh...Um, what are some other places?" I smile, trying to change the subject.

Marik looks up at the cieling. "Hmm...We can stop by the ice cream parlor?"

"Mm, nah, I'm not up for ice cream, to be honest...," I shrug.

He looks at me. "Well, you're hard to please, aren't you?" he smirks.

"Shut up," I give him a playful shove.

He chuckles. "Oh, they have one of those conveyor belt sushi bars somewhere."

"That sounds cool," I say, my interest going up a bit.

He nods. "We can...have dinner, maybe?" he asks, seeming uncertain.

I purse my lips. "Y-yeah, I guess..."

Marik scratches the back of his neck. "So...how about I just text you the address later and we meet up around...six?"

I nod slowly. "S-sure."

Marik smiles a little. "Okay."

We both go back to our sketches, and there are a couple moments of silence between us. Suddenly, Marik starts snickering out of nowhere.

"What?" I look up from my sketch to look at him.

He continues snickering. "Look at how retarded the eye looks," he turns his sketch pad toward me to show a cat with one eye a lot bigger than the other. It looked like something along the lines of an attempt at some sort of art style, but it just looked too ridiculous to seem that way.

I stare at it. "...Okay, what the hell?" I start laughing.

Marik laughs too. "Woah there, Ryo, I'm not too sure if I like you swearing...," Marik says jokingly.

"Well pardon my dirty mouth," I say, rolling my eyes and smiling.

* * *

I step into the apartment, and say, "'Kura, I'm home," as usual. Surprisingly, though, Bakura isn't sitting on the couch. "...Bakura?" I yell out.

No response.

I purse my lips, a bit worried. I walk to Bakura's room, and turn the door handle. Nothing restrains me from opening the door, so I assume the chain isn't linked to lock the door. He isn't in his room.

"That's weird," I mumble. I go to the kitchen to see if there are any traces of Bakura, and a post-it note catches my eye on the refrigerator door.

_Ryo—_

_Went out._

_-Bakura_

I stare at the note for the longest time.

"...What the hell?" I throw my arms up in disbelief. "You don't tell someone you went out and not say where! Ugh, idiot...," I roll my eyes. I take my phone out my pocket and call him, but then I hear a faint ringtone coming from his room.

"...Are you serious?" I say, now peeved.

I hang up, knowing it was useless to try and get a hold of him by calling Bakura himself. I dial Akefia's number.

There's a dial tone before he answers. "Hello?"

"Akefia?"

"Yup."

"Hey, it's Ryo—is Bakura with you?"

"Yeah, why? You want to talk to him?"

"Yes, please."

There's a moment of shuffling and incoherent mumblings before Bakura speaks. "What?" he says monotonously.

"What's with that note you left? That's not even a legitimate message."

"Oh. Sorry," he says, not sounding sorry at all.

I scoff. "Well, I have plans in a little bit, so if you don't eat dinner wherever you are just make something for yourself without burning the apartment down."

He grumbles an okay, and hangs up without saying good-bye. I sigh in disbelief. Sometimes I wonder why I even bother to 'take care' of him.

* * *

I'm standing outside the sushi bar, waiting for Marik. I rock back and forth on my heels, feeling a bit anxious. I had arrived fifteen minutes early, though it wasn't intentional. I didn't realize how close the restaurant was.

I lean on the wall, next to the entrance of the restaurant. Why am I feeling so nervous? We're just...having a fun dinner at a sushi bar, that's all. Two acquaintances—err, friends. Marik had said 'friends' this morning, so...does he really consider me as a friend? I suppose so...

_Two friends, having a friendly dinner at a friendly conveyor belt sushi bar to have friendly conversations and eat good food. Right...yes. Exactly, Ryo._

…_I need to stop talking to myself._

"Ryo?"

I turn my head to the direction I had heard my name being called, and see Marik. "Huh? Oh, uh...hi," I say ineptly. I glance at my watch, which says it's still five minutes before six.

"Hey," Marik comes over, standing I'm front of me. There's silence, and I can't think of anything to say. Fantastic.

"We're...both early," Marik finally says, trying to break the silence.

"Yeah, I...I guess it seems that way," I chuckle a little to lighten the mood.

Marik's expression becomes a bit alarmed. "I'm sorry, were you waiting long? I could've maybe gotten here sooner, but—"

"Oh, no, uh—I just got here about a minute ago, actually," I smile to cover up the little white lie.

Marik smiles back. "Oh, good," he says in relief. "So...shall we?" he gestures to the door. I simply nod, and we head our way inside.

* * *

"Oh, God," Marik starts coughing and takes a drink of water. He puts down his glass. "That...was _way_ spicier than I'm used to."

I laugh a little. "Well, did you read the warning on the little sign?"

"What warning?"

"Exactly."

Marik pushes the small plate with the other piece of sushi toward me. "Here. Have it."

I roll my eyes and pick up the piece with my chopsticks, dipping it in the soy sauce. I pop it into my mouth, chewing and swallowing.

Marik stares at me in disbelief. "...How are you not dying right now?"

"Well," I start, "for one thing—I didn't put wasabi in my soy sauce."

Marik looks down at his soy sauce, unblinking.

"And the other thing—well, actually, there is no other thing," I muse. "Ooh, tuna," I say before grabbing it off the conveyor belt.

Marik rolls his eyes. "Okay, I admit I was stupid for putting wasabi, but at least I didn't mix up—"

"Don't speak of it," I point at him with my chopsticks. He simply snickers. I eat the tuna before speaking again. "So, um...does...Malik know we're here?" I look down at the sushi in front of me to avoid eye contact, but end up glancing up at Marik instead.

"Uh, I was actually...going to ask you the same thing," Marik blinks.

I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"Well, to Malik—from what I've noticed, at least—you're basically...one of the best of friends he's had in a while. I figured you might have told him or something..." he trails off, seeming to see my growing look of guilt.

I stare down at my plate. God, I'm an idiot. Why did I even keep this from Malik? I mean, it's not like it's a..._date_ or anything. We're just having dinner...and...Well, I guess since I knew Malik hates his brother, it was kind of an automatic thing...But now—ugh, god damn, I feel stupid. It's not like I lied to him, but not telling him that my plans involved _Marik_ just gives me this sense of guilt. But...maybe I could just tell him tomorrow, and apologize for it all. Would that clear my conscience...?

"Ryo?"

"Huh?" I look up.

"You okay?" Marik asks cautiously.

I blush. "Oh, yeah, um...I-I'm fine," I tuck a strand of my white hair behind my ear. "So, um—do you wanna stop or are you still hungry?" I smile a little weakly.

"I'm pretty full," Marik pats his stomach. "You?"

"I'm full too," I nod.

He asks for the check, and we finally pay and leave.

"Thanks for dinner," I say gratefully. "You didn't have to pay for all of it, though. I could've paid half..."

"No, it's not a bother," he waves it off. "Don't worry about it," he flashes a smile.

I smile back. "Thanks again," I nod. "I need to get going, so...I'll see you tomorrow?"

He nods. "Yeah, tomorrow."

"Okay," I wave. "Bye, Marik."

He waves back, but I don't hear him say anything in return.

* * *

I'm sitting in my first class the next morning, waiting around for Malik. I have a seat saved for him, since he always tells me to in case he arrives late. Eventually, I see him come through the door.

"Malik!" I call out to him, waving to the seat next to me. He doesn't turn to face me. I call out to him again, but he continues to ignore me. He takes a seat on the farther side of the room.

I blink, a bit dumbfounded. I guess it's safe to say I'm utterly confused.

* * *

I try to talk to Malik after the lecture is over, but he continues to ignore me. He takes a completely different route to his next class, and I can now tell he's avoiding me.

Marik didn't tell him we hung out last night, did he...?

I end my second class a little later than Malik, so I already see him sitting at our usual spot for our usual lunch break. I take a seat in front of him. He's eating a pasta salad, and he appears to be completely focused on it.

"Hey, Malik," I say, trying to sound lighthearted. He doesn't spare me a glance. I purse my lips. "Say, uh...Did you finish the report for English? I'm almost finished, but...," I trail off when Malik finally glances up at me. He's stopped eating and he's in mid-chew. I'm about to open my mouth and speak again, but before I can, Malik suddenly gets up and chucks the rest of his food into the trash can. He walks away quickly and silently, leaving me alone. I almost go after him, but decide to give him space.

Later, when we have English together, Malik once again sits far away from me. I try to catch his attention during the times the professor isn't paying attention, but he still remains indifferent to my existence.

By the end of the lecture, I've had it.

"Malik!" I shout, once we've both reached outside. He remains several feet ahead of me, not looking back.

"Malik, I need to talk to you," I say, once I've caught up with him. He visibly tries to walk faster, but I keep up. I know he has nowhere to go right now—we both have half an hour until our next lectures.

"Malik, please—" I say, but he still ignores me. "Malik, stop acting so weird! I just want to know—"

"Know _what_?" he yells and stops walking abruptly.

I'm caught off guard by him suddenly yelling like that. My eyes are wide, and his eyes are narrowed and he's seething. I've never seen him so upset.

I try to get my vocal cords working. "Malik, I—"

"No, _save it_, I don't care anymore," he interrupts, and starts walking away again.

I groan after realizing he had escaped. "Malik!" I yell after him. I catch up to him again and grab him by the back of his shirt.

"Motherfucker—" he blurts out as he's pulled back by me. "What do you want? !" he starts yelling again, a little louder this time. I ignore the stares from the people passing.

I grip his shoulders, securing him in place. "Malik, I just want to know why you've been ignoring me all day—"

"Because I've already heard enough of you!" he slaps my hands away. His eyes are glaring.

I blink. "...Wh...What?"

Malik sighs in what sounds like frustration, and rolls his eyes. "Marik wouldn't stop _talking_ about your dumb date last night." He puts a hand on his hip.

"Marik...?" My eyes widen a little. "But, i-it wasn't a date—" I try to protest.

"Yeah, yeah, call it _whatever_ you want—it's a _date_ to me. Thanks for ditching me for Marik, I appreciate it," Malik says the last part sarcastically, and starts walking away again.

"Wait, Malik!" Once again, I catch up and I grab him by the shoulder.

"What? !" he spins around, facing me.

"Look, Malik, I'm sorry—I should've told you my 'plans' involved hanging out with Marik," I talk quickly, before Malik decides he wants to leave again. "I-I guess I just didn't want you to think I was ditching you or whatever, but I guess it's too late..." I cringe at the fact his eyes are almost slits. "I...I just want to say I'm sorry—I knew you hate your brother so I just thought that it wouldn't hurt you if you didn't know I was going out with him alone. But I was completely wrong and stupid, I'm sorry. I was going to tell you, but I guess Marik told you fir—"

Malik suddenly gives me a slap to the face. It isn't painful, but it still stings a bit. There's a deafening silence between us. I place my hand on the cheek he had slapped, rubbing it.

"...Marik didn't tell me you guys hung out last night," Malik mumbles, turning his head to the side and crossing his arms.

I blink. "But...didn't you say—"

"I lied," Malik mumbles. "He wasn't talking about the da—hang-out, or whatever. He was talking about _you_ all last night and this morning. It was kind of obvious considering I knew you had plans the same night he did," he shrugs. "I'm not stupid." His voice rises to a normal volume, "He would talk about you before, but just stories from art class or whatever. But he was like, telling me the most _random_ crap about you. Something about your hair or something. I don't even know why he was talking to _me_ about it, but to be honest, it was annoying the _hell_ out of me," he turns to me. "He kept asking me random questions about you too."

I'm dumbfounded, once again. "But...why would Marik talk—"

"Ryo, he likes you," Malik says candidly. I feel myself freeze and tense up. Malik sighs, "There, I said it. Now let's get a move on with our lives."

"He...?" I can hardly create a coherent sentence. "He...but...how...know..." My mind is spinning.

"Even an idiot can figure it out," Malik shrugs, as if it's no big deal. "What, have you not noticed?" he raises an eyebrow.

"No, I...I always thought he was just being nice—"

"Well, that's the first thing. Marik being nice to you. Treating you nicely. Being 'polite.' I personally wasn't involved in whatever social life he had, but that's my assumption." Malik looks at his watch. "Gotta go. Have fun in...art. Or Spanish. Whatever class you have next," he waves it off and starts walking away. In what direction, I don't know, because I'm too busy trying to take this all in.

* * *

**(A/N:) Don't you love Marik's OOC-ness and his and Ryo's awkward conversations? Yeah, I do too. -sarcasm- I just wanted to make it a realistic. I mean, c'mon, not everyone is confident in asking someone out. "As friends." Lolol, we all know that friends thing is BS. Silly Marik. Silly Ryo.**

**Revolving sushi bars are fun and delicious—especially with friends, I kid you not. They're funlicious. P.S. I love bubble tea/boba. Too bad they didn't go to the teahouse.**

**Moody Malik is moody. Let's hope he goes back to normal~**

**Revieeeeew...?**


	9. Chapter 8

**(A/N:) ...OTL**

**I'm so sorry this took a million years. School is hectic and...well, I had a stroke of procrastination, laziness, and need for relaxation. Basically. Plus I've been sucked into the k-pop fandom, and, well, that's an additional distraction, I suppose. Hahah.**

**Short chapter. But, better than nothing, right?**

**Sorry for any mistakes. I wanted to get this up quickly~**

* * *

Clumsy, clumsy, awkward me. Art class that afternoon was awkward—more than usual for me, at least. I barely said a word to Marik, and when he would ask me something, I gave him short and mumbled answers. I feel bad for giving him a bit of a hard time, but...how can I look at him when I know he...likes me?

Malik didn't call, text, let alone 'kidnap' me that day after classes. Though it wasn't like I expected him to after everything...Plus, he mentioned something yesterday about going to a meeting, so there's a small chance that's the only reason he's not contacting me in any sort of way.

Sigh. Thank every god for weekends.

So...Marik likes me, according to Malik. How...how do I go about this? Do I...like him back? But if I _do_ like him back...what then?

"Ryo."

I mean...if I like him back, does that mean I should tell him? Or maybe...maybe I ask him if he likes me first, just to make sure Malik isn't mistaken...

"Ryo!"

But...is there a risk? If there's a risk...should I really take it..?

"RYO!" I feel a slap on the back of my head. I turn around to see Bakura standing there, arms crossed.

I rub the spot he had hit. "Ow...What was that for?"

"You weren't moving for the longest time, now. It was creeping me out," he says. "And you're almost burning the barbeque."

"Huh?" I turn around, seeing that the Korean barbeque I was preparing was nearly overcooked. "Crap," I mumble before quickly turning off the stove. Bakura reaches over to grab a piece of meat and pops it in his mouth.

He chews and seems to contemplate the taste before speaking, "It's still good."

I simply nod, showing a bit of relief. I go to the cabinets to get the plates ready. "Is Akefia coming over?" I ask halfheartedly.

"No," Bakura mutters, and I hear a chair scrape across the floor.

I grab two plates and two sets of utensils (since Bakura lacks chopsticks in this apartment) and walk over to place them on the table. I go back to the stove to transfer the meat onto a bigger plate and bring it back to the table.

"You want rice?" I mumble, going back to retrieve rice from the rice cooker.

Bakura pauses for a while. "...No, I'm fine."

"'Kay," I say, and fill just one bowl for myself. I come back and sit across from Bakura, and start to eat without a word. Bakura remains still.

I glance up from my food. "Go ahead. Eat."  
Bakura stares at me, his expression unreadable. "...Okay," Bakura says, leaning forward in his seat, "Spill it."

I raise an eyebrow and stop eating. "What?"

"Something's wrong. You're acting weird. Tell me what it is," Bakura says. He's serious.

I stare at him for a few seconds, then go back to eating. "There's nothing wrong."

Bakura stares at me, and sighs. He leans back in his chair. "You're a terrible liar."

"I'm not lying," I say, shrugging.

"There, you did it again. You're horrible at lying."

I tighten the grip I had on my fork. "Bakura, I don't want to talk about it."

"Ah, so there _is_ something wrong," a small smirk graces his lips. Damn, he got me.

"It's none of your concern," I say as calmly as possible, and continue eating.

"C'mon, amuse me," Bakura gestures.

I sigh. "Will you stop that?"

"I'll stop once you tell me," Bakura shrugs.

I groan. "Fine. There's a rumor someone likes me, and it's just bugging me. There, happy?"

"Ah, high school never ends," he shakes his head, smiling. "Is it a guy?"

"Bakura!" I look at him in disbelief.

"Oh, it is! I can tell," he grins.

I blush furiously. "Why am I your amusement when Akefia's gone?"

"Because there's no one else here," he shrugs.

I sigh and try to contain myself. Calmly, I go back to eating.

"So, do you like him?" I start coughing and choking on the food in my mouth. Bakura smirks. "I'll take that as a yes."

I drink water and clear my throat. "Th-that's none of your concern either, and I never said I like him..."

A few moments of silence. "...Hey, your cheeks are healthily shaded."

I make a puzzled expression. "What?"

"Your cheeks are red. They're not pale like the rest of your skin," Bakura snickers. I feel heat grow in my cheeks even more.

"Hey, don't feel bad," Bakura grins. "Just because you like guys doesn't make you any different. But it does make me right."

I'm a little irritated at this point. "Bakura, I never said—"

"Yeah, you never said. But I'm sure there's a lot of things being said in your head," he says simply, and finally starts eating.

I have no response for that.

* * *

I hear a loud ringtone, jarring me from my sleep. I groan and glance at my alarm clock. It's a little past eleven. I must've slept in...

I blindly reach for my cell phone on my nightstand, answering it. "Hello...?" I grumble.

"Well, good morning sunshine," a cheery voice says on the other line.

I pause, my mind slowly functioning. "...Malik?"

"Who else? Anyway, are you still up for going to the bubble teahouse?"

I'm a little confused. "Uh...yeah, I guess...What time?"

"Is two-thirty okay? I'll pick you up."

"Um...yeah, that's fine," I talk slowly, lethargy taking over.

"Great. See you later, Ryo-lovely." The dial tone indicates he had hung up. I lie on my back, staring at the ceiling. I put my phone away.

Okay...I could've sworn Malik was pissed at me yesterday. What happened?

I brush it off for the moment to get myself ready. Seeing that there was no sign of Bakura, I assume he's left for work already.

* * *

I straighten my shirt out in front of the mirror. Keeping an eye on my cell phone resting on the sink, I stay alert for a message from Malik indicating he was here. I suddenly hear a knock at the door, and rush over to check who it is while bringing my phone with me. I open the door and, surprisingly, Malik's standing there. He usually never picked me up by coming directly to the room, before...

"Hi," Malik says in an overly cheerful fashion.

I blink. "Hi...," I trail off.

"Ready?" he bounces a little in his position, and I wonder if he's hyped up on...something.

"Uh, yeah, let me just get my keys...," I say, and go to get said keys. I grab my jacket off the chair in the dining area and stuff my phone in my pocket. After locking the door, we start making our way downstairs.

* * *

Malik slips his Ray Bans onto the top of his head. "Anything specific you want?" he asks me, looking at the menu on the wall.

"Um...," I scan the menu, not really familiar with anything displayed. "Whatever would be good, I guess. I'm not really sure of what I want," I shrug a little.

Malik nods and turns to the cashier. "One regular milk tea, with boba. And...a large, milk tea with mini boba, rainbow and aloe jelly."

The cashier punches in the order and Malik pays for our order. We stand off to the side to wait for our number to be called out.

Malik rocks back and forth on his heels, eyes wandering around the teahouse. He seems restless, though he doesn't say a word to me.

"...Malik?" I speak up.

"Yes?" he turns to me. It just occurs to me that he's taller.

"I...," I purse my lips. "...I...I'm just gonna say it—why are in such a good mood? I mean, not to be weird or anything, but I could have _sworn_ you were pissed at me yesterday for ditching you for your brother—" I flinch, thinking Malik is about to say something or cover my mouth, but he just reaches up to take his Ray Bans off his head and put them away in his bag.

"...I'm over it," Malik shrugs.

"...What?" I blink, looking at him in disbelief.

"I'm over it," he repeats blatantly.

"...I...I don't understand—"

"Number 17!" the cashier calls out. Malik walks off to grab our drinks, and as he comes back, he gestures toward a table outside for us to sit at. We sit, and he takes one of the straws and puts it in my drink for me.

He proceeds to drink his drink. "So," he says. "What were you saying?"

I stare at him. "...Malik, how...how could you be...'over it'? I...I just don't understand."

He shrugs. "I dunno. I'm over it. I don't really care. Eye dee gaff," he sips his drink.

"...Huh?"

"_Idgaf_. I don't give a fuck," he shrugs for what seems like the millionth time. "Ryo, just _chill_, I'm_ not _mad anymore."

"...You sure?"

"Of _course_," he says, and pokes my forehead. "You just worry too much."

"But—"

"Shush. Drink your tea."

I blink a few times, staring at him. I finally give in and just take a sip of the foreign drink. "...It's good," I nod.

"Of course, I suggested it, after all," Malik says proudly.

I simply roll my eyes.

* * *

**(A/N:) ...Okay that was just super short and total BS wasn't it. ;_; But heeey, at least I got it done. Since I've been super busy and it'll basically continue this way for a while, I think this fic will turn out shorter than planned. So basically...I _think_ there's going to be a slight time skip next chapter. Gotta keep the story moving. :P**

**I'll hopefully get started on the next chapter soon. Please bear with me ;_; Thanks, guys~**


	10. Chapter 9

**(A/N:) Suddenly—an update! I know you all hate me now. It's okay, it happens...**

* * *

It's funny how time flies. The term is already over. Thankfully, for our next semester, I don't need to take as many classes since I decided to get most of them done and over with already. Oh, how clever and foresightful I am.

Malik isn't as lucky—he's responsible for two classes while I'm off, so since I have nothing better to do now, I tend to lounge around his house nowadays.

I'm sitting in Malik's living room, watching movies on-demand. "Will you turn that down?" Malik mutters under his breath.

I turn to him. "Honestly, I don't understand why you're trying to study in here. Why don't you go to your room?"

"Because I don't trust you being alone in my living room."

I roll my eyes. "Oh, come on, the worst I can do is probably...I don't know, spill something. Or watch a movie on-demand that's not free."

"Exactly," Malik says. "I don't want you doing those things."

I sigh. "Look, Malik, I don't want to be the cause of you failing your next exam or whatever—"

"Oh, that reminds me. Why are you even here?" Malik raises an eyebrow.

"I have no classes for the next month. I have nothing better to do."

Malik stares at me. "Ryo, you...seem changed."

I feel my hand twitch. "What do you mean?"

"I don't know, I...I guess I'm not used to seeing you not studying while I'm studying or not studying. You know what I mean?"

"...Sure," I say, trying to brush off the subject. "Anyway...what are you studying for? I might be able to help."

"Physics," he pouts. "The prof is c-_ra_-zy."

I sigh, familiar with Malik's complaints and issues with this professor. "Look," I say, and flip to the back of his textbook, pointing to the various review problems, "Just do these _in your room_, and come back out and I'll check them for you." Malik groans. "No complaining. Do you want to pass?"

"Yes...," he grumbles.

"What?" I say. "I can't hear you!"

"_Yes_, I want to _pass_, jeez...," he takes the textbook and trudges along to his room, and shuts the door.

l stretch and try to find something remotely interesting to watch since the movie just ended, but I've run out of movies to watch. Great. I guess I'll watch the food channel or something.

I hear a door opening, but when I look up, I see nothing and assume it's just my imagination. But I'm proven wrong.

"Ryo?"

I turn to the side, and see Marik standing there with his messenger bag. I jump a little, not expecting to see Malik's brother.

"Marik!...Oh, well, this is awkward. I thought you have classes?" I scratch my head, flustered.

"They ended early," he shifts a little. "Where's Malik?"

"In his room, studying. I gave him practice problems." I scoot to the end of the couch, lessening the distance between us.

"Oh," he looks down at me. He's wearing contacts today. "So, does Bakura mind you're here?"

"Eh, he doesn't care," I shrug, tracing random patterns on the couch armrest.

"Ah, true," he nods. He's learned more about me, I guess you could say. "So you're staying for a while?"

"Mm, just until around five, then I'll have to go home and make dinner."

Marik bends down, now eye-level with me. "What a housewife."

I roll my eyes. "Shut up."

He kisses me.

I revel for a second before pulling away. "Shit—Marik, what are you trying to do, get caught?"

Marik chuckles. "You said Malik was studying—which could take some time. We have time."

"Well, yeah, if you don't consider the fact I gave him the _easy_ problems."

Marik raises an eyebrow. "Why'd you do that?"

"I didn't know you were coming," I shrug.

He sighs. "What a downer."

The door to Malik's room opens, and Malik walks out. "Ryo, I'm do—" he sees Marik. "Oh, you're home," he says cynically. He turns back to me. "I finished the problems, and checked my answers in the book."

"They were in the book?" I blink.

"Well, duh. But anyway, you don't have to check them. We can do stuff now, I'm done studying," he tosses his notebook on the coffee table, and swiftly grabs his bag, keys, and sunglasses.

"C'mon, Ryo, we're going out," he grabs my arm and drags me toward the door.

"Wait, ah, wha—?" I blink, and look back at Marik, but he's out of sight at this point.

Malik brings me to the driveway, where he has his car parked. We get inside and start driving to who-knows-where.

"What was that?" I raise my eyebrow.

"I needed to get out of there. I can't concentrate on studying anyway," he shrugs. "And Marik was home."

I sigh. "Really, Malik..."

"I could've just left you, but that's like, leaving a soldier behind or something. I don't know. I'm not in the army."

I make a puzzled expression at his analogy. "I wouldn't mind being left behind there...," I mumble.

"What was that?" Malik looks at me. We've come to a stoplight.

"O-oh, uh, nothing," I stutter. "So, where exactly are we going...?"

The light turns green. "Your apartment, where else?"

* * *

"Why don't you tell him?" Marik hits the ping pong ball back to me.

"Are you kidding me?" I hit it back. "He'd flip if he found out."

"But I thought you said he doesn't care?" He misses. "Shoot."

I put the paddle down. "Bullshit," I scoff. "He hates your guts—what makes you think he'd be _completely_ fine with his _friend_ going out with his _brother_?"

Marik blinks a few times. "You're probably right."

I shrug, looking smug in a joking manner. "Of course."

He walks over and forces my head on his shoulder. "He's going to end up finding out somehow, though."

I cringe. He's probably right.

* * *

Yeah. It feels like yesterday. How ridiculously corny. Marik and I were attempting to sketch the neighborhood and he just turned around out of nowhere and said six simple words—when put together, it's a hard question. Especially in my situation. (Not a very romantic way of asking me out, I know, but I've realized that I'm not a romantic type of person.)

_Will you go out with me?_

Damn.

My biggest dillemma: How could I possibly go out with Marik when I know Malik would disapprove? I mean, he's not my mother or anything but Marik's his _brother_ and he's my _friend_ for God's sake. Plus he _abhors _Marik, and even makes some effort for me to stay away from him (all efforts proven ineffective, obviously...). Not to mention Malik's previous reaction to Marik and I "hanging out"…

I don't know why I let Marik talk me into it. I like him, and I've come to accept that, but I knew it was wrong—so why did I say "yes"?

* * *

**(A/N:) Short chapter again. GAH. Sorry. It's been, what, two years since the last update? I still want to finish this though. I actually had this draft on my iPod for a really long time and never got around to editing...Yeah, I suck. I just noticed how much stuttering there is in the last three chapters. I need to stop making them stutter. STOP STUTTERING, GAWSH. K, gotta go study for finals now! (Shiiiiet!) Sorry if there are any stupid errors, like I said—I DON'T HAB DUH TIIIIME! (mychonny reference) Leave a review on your way out~**


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